Shattered Souls
by Miss Epic Love
Summary: 201 years after Eric Northman was taken by the Queen of Oklahoma he finally is free and comes back to Fangtasia. Sookie Stackhouse is long dead and so the love of his life. When a blonde, sassy law student walks into his bar and applies for a job, something changes and soon the mystery unfolds and triggers memories of a long forgotten past. Will they be able to right their wrongs?
1. Chapter 1 - Introduction

**Shattered Souls**

_a True Blood Fanfiction_

_Here I stand alone_  
_With this weight upon my heart_  
_And it will not go away_

_In my head, I keep on looking back_  
_Right back to the start_  
_Wondering what it was that made you change_

_Well, I tried, but I had to draw the line_  
_And still this question keeps on spinning in my mind_

_What if I had never let you go?_  
_Would you be the man I used to know?_  
_If I'd stayed, if you'd tried_  
_If we could only turn back time_  
_But I guess we'll never know_

Hey, this is my first fanfiction and I'm still trying to figure out this website, but at the moment it pretty much works. Normally I just write my own stories and role-plays, but I had this idea a couple of days ago since True Blood was ending and couldn't shake it. Personally I liked the book series more, than the TV show, but I guess anybody can read my story, no matter if you just watched the TV show, or know the books too.

At the beginning my story will be a bit different, than most stories I guess, but don't just click away, when you don't read the name Sookie in the first chapter. I actually got the idea when I stumbled on Amazon across a new Sookie Stackhouse novel with some short stories, written by other authors, but authorized by Charlaine Harris. I can link you to a comment about the book and it includes a short story about Eric which takes place over 200 years in the future. This was the moment when I got my idea. (Apparently a link does not work, so look up 'Dead but not forgotten' on Amazon.

We will see Sookie in this story and it will be definitely a Sooric story, but you have to be a bit patient, because if I would just start with Sookie the story would only be half as good, I promise. And since English is not my first language, I apologize for some grammar mistakes in advance. If someone wants to beta my story, I'd totally be up for that too.

And now I leave you to it and start with the first chapter, which will follow soon, because the website is killing me with all the publishing functions and such stuff.

~ Jess


	2. Chapter 2 - A new day has come

**Chapter one starts with introducing the setting and the main character. Not so much action, but that will follow in the next chapter, so be patient.**

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The constant ringing and annoying sound of my alarm made me moan in desperation. It was way too early for a normal human being to get up, but well, I couldn't blow my first day back at school.

We were writing the year 2211, my name was Anastasia Pryce, I was twenty three years old and had just started law school last fall. Holidays were something nice, something very nice and comfortable, but everything had to end and so it was time for me to get back to university.

At least it was finally springtime and warm again, because I hated nothing more, than the cold air and grey colors of winter. Not, that I had the right to complain, because I lived in Louisiana, so it never really got that cold, but well it wasn't all sunshine and thirty degrees either, at least not the whole year.

I yawned a few times, before I got myself out of bed. My gaze lingered about a minute on my window and at least a small smile appeared on my face, because I couldn't wait to feel the sun on my skin again.

I was living in Shreveport, which was located in the north of Louisiana. I really loved my hometown because it offered everything that a young girl at my age could wish for. We had an amazing and adventurous life downtown that just waited to be explored, as well, as a calmer living area, where our house was located and also woods and an a more abandoned area near them, which surrounded the city.

I lived together with my mum and my grandma, since my father had left the family, when I was still very young and a few years ago, at around eighty, my grandfather had passed away, after a few years battling cancer.

A small sigh came over my lips, when I was thinking about the past and my life in general, before I left my room to go to the bathroom and make myself presentable for the day.

I heard some noises from downstairs, but didn't worry, because my mum always left very early for work and even though my grandma didn't have to, she always got up early too, because she used to say 'The early bird catches the worm'.

After almost thirty minutes in the bathroom I looked pretty good for my first day back at school, at least in my opinion, with light make-up on my face and my hair high up in a ponytail. I nodded to myself in the mirror and walked back into my room and was glad…again…that I always picked out my clothes the day before, because otherwise I'd be constant late to everything.

I put on a pair of dark jeans, a white blouse with some ruffles and a red blazer. To complete my outfit I chose a matching red bag and some red ankle boots with heels. A last look in the mirror and I seemed ready.

Maybe I looked a little overdressed, but I just loved fashion and since my family wasn't on the poor side, I could afford a whole lot of it and owned a personal dressing room too. We weren't rich either, but could live a pretty comfortable life, since my mum worked as an interior designer and back in the old days, my grandpa was running his own business.

I was halfway out of the door, when I felt, that something was missing and paused immediately with a confused expression on my face. I looked down on myself and it hit me as hard as a lightning bolt…my ring was missing, but I never took it off.

Panic started to rise inside of me and I couldn't hide the fear that was splattered across my face. "Grandma!" I yelled downstairs, my voice shaking and within a few seconds she was standing beside me in the hallway with a concerned look on her face herself.

"What's wrong, dear?"

I was still in shock, before I was able to reply.

"My ring…it's gone…" were the only few syllables I was able to speak, whilst my throats felt totally dry.

"It can't be gone; nothing has ever disappeared in this house sweetheart, just try to remember when you'd last had in on your finger."

"I guess yesterday morning" I replied a bit unsure, but remembered that I definitely still had it at breakfast.

"So could there have been any reason why you would take it off?" my grandmother asked again and a second later I was ready to slap myself. Of course, I took it off in the bathroom, because I didn't wanted it to get dirty, when I cleaned my shower, after I had made a mess on my regular beauty Sunday.

A big smile crossed my face and I kissed my grandma on the cheek, before I ran to the bathroom and there the ring was, just as I had left him on the counter.

While waking downstairs and meeting my grandma in the kitchen for some breakfast I was really quiet, maybe I was even a bit in shock, that I got so scared when a piece of jewelry was gone. Well, the ring hadn't been that cheap, but I had bought it in an antique store, so it's not like it was out of pure gold and jeweled with diamonds, or something.

Since my mum was an interior designer I knew quite a lot of interior shops here in Shreveport and that one day I had stumbled across this beautiful ring. I don't know to this day what had sparked my interest, but I knew I had to have it, even if it was a thousand dollars and without it I just felt, like a piece of myself was missing and that was pretty strange.

After some coffee and toast I was ready to leave the house and felt much calmer, than before. I crossed the pavement and stepped into the elevator on the other side of the street, which would bring me up to the station.

Of course I owned a car, but I had nothing against going by train. The elevator looked a lot like something people in the past called a phone booth, but it worked via teleportation and in a few seconds I was up at least a couple of hundred meters in the air and ready to catch my train.

It didn't take me long to my university, just about twenty minutes and on the train I had grabbed the daily newspaper. Since I still had like half an hour before my first class would start, I sat outside of the school on a bench and flipped through the paper.

I was never a fan of reading these things, but since the vampires were now integrated in our community, they've gotten an extra section for their news at the end of the paper and I was dying to read it.

What does a human want with the vampire section, right? But well, I loved vampires, the supernatural and everything, that was related to it. Nowadays it was funny to watch old movies like Dracula, or read books like The Vampire Diaries, because we all very well knew, that vampires were real and not just mysterious creatures created by our creative minds.

The vampire hype, which I liked to call it, wasn't much present these days, I guess because of their existence, at least in fiction, but I loved everything about them.

I'd seen Dracula at least ten times and also read and watched almost everything that was out there, not to forget the new hit show Fangtastic hosted by a vampire named Bill.

Yeah…Bill. I still have to laugh every time they introduce him, but well, the show is good and judging a person by his, or her name…nope…I don't do that.

Flipping through the pages I'd read some of the headlines and had now ended up at the ad section. A big read logo with the word Fangtasisa immediately caught my eye.

Wasn't this the famous vampire bar in town? I never got to visit, because I always heard, that it was dangerous and not the nice kind of vampires hung around there, like for example Bill the host.

[i]Hiring human waitresses between the age of 21 and 30. Come by after 8 o'clock p.m.[/i] was what the ad said.

I was in desperate need of a job. Obviously not to cover my expenses, but after finishing law school I'd be almost thirty and in my opinion this was the right age to move out. Of course, with my grades, I would not have a hard time finding a job, but a little extra money was always good.

"Hey Anna…!" A familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts and when I looked up I saw Stacy, a pretty good friend and also law student.

"Hey Trace, what's up?" I asked with a smile on my face, but did not get an answer, since she has grabbed the newspaper from my lap and was looking disappointed at me.

"The vampire section? Again, Anna?" were her only words and I didn't know what to say. I loved vampires and couldn't get enough of them, whilst Tracy seemed to stay away from anything vampire related as far as possible.

Actually, it was pretty hilarious. Tracy was totally the type of girl that would be mistaken as a fangbanger. Bleach blonde hair, a lot of make-up on her face, short and revealing clothes, plus a list of boyfriends that could totally compare to the list of all the presidents since the founding of the United States.

"What can I say, you got me…" I replied grinning a little bit. "Also the good girls have to bad sometimes, isn't that right Miss I'm the badest badass bitch in town?"

Suddenly I had to laugh pretty hard, but well, Tracy always said that about herself, so she was very well aware about what a bad girl was and I definitely was the opposite of it.

I always wore fashionable clothes, but never too revealing, as well, as only light make-up and my hair was always put back in a pretty ponytail. I didn't drink alcohol, nor did I smoke, or do drugs. I was always home before midnight, had good grades and was a virgin. I mean I never even kissed somebody, but that was a whole different story.

I may seemed like the girl next door, but I was pretty kickass, knew my way around bitches and men, never ran from danger, I much more ran towards it, cursed a lot more, than a good girl did and couldn't keep it together, even if I wanted to.

My emotions were always out in the open, so I never held back and bluntly told everyone the truth. Not to mistake me for a rude person. I'm always nice and charming, until wronged and nobody wanted to wrong me, at least nobody who knew how I would react.

"So what were you reading about?" Tracys voice brought me again back to reality and I just shrugged and replied "Nothing important" because she definitely would me call crazy, if I wanted to work in a vampire bar.

"Come on, it has to be something important, if you were all caught up in your thoughts again…"

I sighed and knew that this would be a mistake, but well…I wasn't running from a fight, so here we go.

"I thought of getting a job, to save me some extra money…" was the way I started the conversation.

"Why do you need money? Your family has two asses full of it…" was the only thing Tracy said and I sighed again.

"Well, I wanna move out after law school and so I thought that it would be a good idea."

"Okay, if you want to work your ass off for almost nothing…go ahead, but have you figured out what kind of job yet?"

Now the moment has come, so I sat up straight and put on my best you-can't-talk-me-out-of-this-expression, before I pointed my finger at the ad in the newspaper.

"As a waitress…"

Within seconds Tracy stood in front of me, her arms on her hips and looking at me, like a mother at a child that has committed a very serious crime.

"Are you out of your mind Anna?!" she yelled at me, before I blocked her unnecessary rambling speech out.

"Are you finished?" I asked after almost two minutes and she looked even more surprised.

"Did you not hear a single word I was saying?"

"I very well did, but I is my decision, and you know how much I love vampires. I always wanted to belong to this supernatural world, even as a human. There is no discussion; I'm doing this, so deal with it."

I grabbed the newspaper angrily, and started to walk to class…she would calm down eventually, but I seriously didn't need this, not from her. Tracy was working as a stripper, so she wasn't the one to talk me down about waitressing.

After class I got home quickly and grabbed some lunch in the kitchen, before I left for my room and sat down on my bed to think about what I should wear to my interview at Fangtasia.

After almost half an hour I got up and decided to leave my hair and make-up just as it was and chose some not too revealing, but pretty clothes from my dressing room.

A look in the mirror told me, that I definitely looked like I was going to a vampire bar. I was wearing a black dress with some tiny red flowers on it, matching black cowboy boots and a black clutch.

I went downstairs and found my grandma still in the kitchen.

"Grandma, I'm heading out tonight, I've got something to do in the city…"

Her eyes were focused on me within seconds.

"Dou you have a date?" she asked me with excitement in her voice, but I just waved my hand and replied "Nah, just a job interview. You know, I have enough time after school and a little extra money can't be wrong, right?"

Not as excited as before, but still proud, she nodded and went to the fridge.

"But I don't let you leave without a proper meal and meanwhile you can tell me all about that interview."

I clenched my teeth and sighed. "Okay Gran, sounds good…"

Ten minutes later I had some chicken salad on my plate and felt that she was staring at me. I had some kind of superpower, okay, maybe a bad word, but I like to call it that.

I was pretty empathic towards people and their emotions, as well as their intentions and had a good intuition as well.

Some people would maybe call me a bit psychic, empathic, or telepathic, but well, I just called it a good intuition and my own personal superpower.

"So, what about that job interview of yours now?"

"It's at a bar…as a waitress…" I explained myself and hoped that she wouldn't react like Tracy, but I only got a nod and that meant, I have to continue.

"I don't know much about it just that this vampire bar, Fangtasia, is hiring and you know how much I love vampires and everything about them, so I figured, why not push my luck a bit."

A too long silence continued. In reality not even a minute passed by, but I was so on edge, that it felt like forever.

"So you're not gonna become a…how do they call them…?"

She seemed to think about the right word, so I asked "Fangbanger?" with a curious expression on my face and waited for her to respond.

"Right, that's what I meant."

"No, don't worry grandma, I just wanna work there…me waiting for the right guy is still on…"

Somehow that talk had made me a bit sad and nostalgic, so I finished my meal fast and in silence, before I headed out with the words "Don't wait up, it can get late".

Two minutes later I sat in my car and drove towards the city limits with my favorite music blasting my ears.

Like I said before, I never had a boyfriend and actually I didn't know why. I had a few crushes in school, but nothing meaningful. Every time I thought, I was in love, is just a joke, when I think back and all the relationships around me seem so meaningless, so it's definitely not the first time, that a conversation left me feeling empty and wondering if I would ever find the right guy.

I was for sure not settling for anybody, I wanted that true love that so many movies and books were talking about but somehow it seemed that it seized to exist in my time and that empty feeling inside of me never completely left, even in my happiest moments.

Not even half an hour later I was driving into the parking lot of Fangtasia and a quick look at the clock in my car told me, that it was still pretty early…just 07:30 p.m. and so I left my car and walked over to the entrance of the bar. At least I could gather some experience in this environment, before I would be interviewed.

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**Next up: Anna at Fangtasia meeting Eric and Pam.**

**So have you all figured out by now in what direction this story is heading? If yes, or no, just leave a review and tell me what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Every breath you take

**Thank you all for the reviews and you're onto me with your theories, plus she won't fall for Bill…I don't even know if he will be in this story, except for being mentioned as Bill the vampire host on TV.**

** So since I got a lot of followers and favorites and also some reviews plus I couldn't wait to write the next chapter, here it is. I also tried Eric POV this time, because it seemed important to me. I never ever wrote a male character at all, so if it is garbage, just tell me and I'll stop with the POV switching.**

**And if you like my story and want to continue reading, follow, or mark as favorite. I don't know the difference right now, but so I know that a lot of people are interested in the story.**

**But now back to chapter 2, an extra long chapter in my opinion, but I wanted to squeeze the first night at Fangtasia in one chapter and don't split it.**

ANNA POV

As I made my way over to the entrance of the bar I felt as much as excited as hesitant. I'm not the typically going to a bar girl, so I had no idea what was awaiting me inside, nor did I ever meet a real vampire before, or visit a vampire bar.

Just don't let them know how you feel I told myself holding my head up high with a serious expression on my face. The noises of my heels echoed in my ears, whilst I walked as feminine as possible towards the tall guy at the door.

If they're smart they're definitely gonna hire you. Personally I wasn't so sure about that, but just by the looks, why not?

I had my long dark blonde and slightly wavy hair still pulled back into a ponytail, because I always thought, that pulling my hair back suited my face. Speaking of my face, which consisted of pretty much clear skin, a slim nose, bright blue eyes and my full and rosy lips, which I liked best about my face.

Overall I was pretty okay with my appearance. Apart from my face, I was about 5.7 feet tall and had a curvy but not overweight figure. Well I wasn't a top model, but I liked that about myself, because my womanly hips and big boobs had gotten me some attention in the past and since I also was the proud owner of a very small waist I had nothing to complain about and my dress just highlighted my feminine features perfectly.

The place seemed crowed and a long chain of gossiping and yelling people had formed in front of the entrance.

I sighed and just waited in line, because what else could I have done? I couldn't really tell which of them vampires were and which humans, but just by their choice of clothing and how they behaved I was pretty sure almost all of these were desperate humans in need for some V, which was still used as a drug, or just some meaningless sex.

After almost five minutes I finally stood in front of the tall man who I was pretty sure was a vampire. He looked at me with a pretty much deadly expression.

I put a small smile on my face and just started talking. "I want one ticket for the evening to visit the bar…" were my words and there was still no change on the vampires face. He just nodded and something like a "Hm" had left his mouth.

I was well aware of the look he gave me, but nevertheless I was pretty much a walking dinner for him, so I shouldn't mind, right?

He scanned me for the last time and then told me to walk by, well that was easy, wasn't it?

I made a quick look over my shoulder and recognized that the crowded chain of yelling and already drunk people was still pretty much intact, before I walked towards the real entrance of the bar.

It seemed like the guy I just met was just a doorman to sort out the unwelcome customers, because now I was standing in front of a definitely beautiful, but eccentric woman. She was tall, slim, with beautiful features and long, dark blonde hair, wearing a red and black colored outfit that looked like from the early 1902s, a corsage included.

The look she gave me wasn't pretty much different when compared to the other vampire.

"Good evening" Her words startled me a little bit, or was it just her voice? I looked up immediately, not staring at her anymore and tried to put on my best smile.

"One ticket for this evening, please" I said and waited what she would respond.

"Well, dear…we don't sell tickets here, we just collect twenty dollars for entry…" she replied in her bored tone and her expression didn't change at all and she was definitely not hiding it.

"Okay, then a twenty for entry it is…" I said and opened my black clutch to find my wallet and get twenty dollars out of it. I handed her the money and she put it in her wallet without even really looking at it.

"Now your ID please" and I just obeyed and handed her my driver's license. She scanned it and her gaze wandered between my ID and me until I started to feel really uncomfortable and didn't know what to do.

"So Anastasia…23 years old…" she just said, without even asking and I nodded, even though it felt a bit strange hearing my full name out loud… "It's Anna, but yeah…I'm an adult, I just look a bit younger, than I am I think…"

"That I see. Have a fangtastic night at Fangtasia." I heard how annoyed she was with the last words, which were probably chosen by her boss because of the new hit show and started walking into the bar with a simple and polite "Thank you".

As soon as I entered the big bar room the sound of loud and modern music hit my ears, while I smelled all kinds of alcoholic beverages and a lot of smoke, as well as…blood. I couldn't quite pinpoint if it was real one, or this synthetic thing called Tru Blood, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the real deal anyway, I mean it was a vampire bar after all.

The whole interior was chosen quite carefully if you'd ask me. As the daughter of an interior designer I just had an eye for such things. Everything was colored in dark red, as well as black…pretty fitting for an establishment like this, at least in my opinion.

Something that had caught my eye from the very beginning was that the bar did not seem as modern, as most public places nowadays it pretty much seemed like nothing here changed, since the bar had first opened and that was a long time ago. Somewhere in the late 1990s if I remember correctly.

Until now I wasn't paying much attention to the folks around here, but giving them a closer look my eyes witnessed all kinds of people. Old, young, possible fangbangers, as well as family mothers, men, women, just all kind of different types, that fitted in perfectly and others not so much.

Watching my steps closely I slowly started walking through the crowd and soaked in all the different aspects of my surroundings, while I was looking for the actual bar inside of Fangtasia.

Due to the fact, that most of the people here were drunk and dancing around I bumped into a few, but nevertheless I reached the bar and slid onto a red bar stool.

Without even thinking I looked at the dark haired vampire behind the bar and asked "Do you also sell non alcoholic beverages here, like for example a cola?"

The guy gave me a strange look but nodded and soon a glass of cold and fresh cola was put in front of me. I didn't hesitate to taste it and it seemed not any different to the one you got at the store.

"So what does a pretty girl like you here at Fangtasia?" he asked and I looked at him a bit confused.

"What does that mean?" I replied with a slightly annoyed tone and looked him directly in the eyes.

"You know, you just don't seem like the typical fangbanger, that's all plus I've never seen you here before…"

"Well, that's my first time here and no, I'm no fangbanger, by no means, just a girl with a love for vampires…"

I didn't realize my words would change my whole plans for this evening, until it was already too late.

"So you're fucking vampires, huh?" he asked with a knowing expression on his face and a dirty smile, that made me cringe. I was completely in shock, how could somebody think something like that of me?

I just stared at him with no definite expression and the vampire took this as a welcoming invitation to continue with his dirty words and possibly, very possibly, dirty thoughts.

"What do you say baby. We after work behind the club, I'll even give you a 20."

I couldn't believe it and finally broke free from my frozen status. Completely angered I replied "I don't fuck vampires, not you, not anybody, not in a million years, you dirty pig!" before I slapped him across the face, slid off the stool and started walking away from the bar.

Well I shouldn't have underestimated the pride of a vampire that was at least a few hundred years old, but it seems that this was also a lesson I had to learn.

In a matter of seconds I found myself on the hard wooden floor of the bar, not even knowing what actually has happened to me. I hissed in pain and my head hurt pretty badly, while my view was still blurry.

Time was not a luxury I had and so I felt the amount of weight on my legs and had to blink a few times, before I realized, that the vampire from before had attacked me.

He was just about to sink his fangs into my neck, as I started kicking and screaming. "Get off of me you bloody bastard!" I screamed and tried to kick him off me, while digging my nails into his back and any spot I could find.

The folks surrounding us didn't seem to care until a dark but somehow smooth voice was filling the bar and suddenly everyone seemed to stop in whatever they were doing and were as quiet as possible.

"What the fuck is going on?!" were the dangerously spoken words by the male voice, that made me a bit shiver.

Within a second a tall guy was standing beside us and the vampire hovering over me crushed into a distant corner across the room, at least it sounded that way, but my head was still spinning.

"Continue!" the dark voice echoed again in my ears and vampires, as well as humans obeyed and continued, as nothing had happened.

A big white hand reached down to me to pull me on my feet and I groaned a bit in pain, but at least I was standing on solid ground again.

When I looked up to my savior I just stared at a black tank top and tilted my head a bit back to just look into the bluest eyes I've ever seen in my entire life. They were mesmerizing and I couldn't look away, just simply stare and somehow the guy across me, even though he was definitely a vampire, did the same and I wasn't sure why.

He seemed so familiar, so right, like I've known him for a long time, but I was pretty sure, that I've never met him. A guy like that would be pretty hard to forget.

ERICS POV

I was just sitting on my throne, more than bored and staring with the same blunt expression into a corner across the room. Back in the old days I was pretty eager to do my work out here in Fangtasia. I liked to embarrass pitiful guys and enjoyed all the attention that I got from the female customers, sex and blood included, but not today, or at all, not anymore.

It was over 200 years since I left Shreveport and I was just back for about a month. I was finally free from Freyda and my contract and since there was nothing left for me, except for Fangtasia and my progeny Pam, I of course came back to see if she and the bar were still intact and well it was that way.

Pam was pretty delighted to see me again and that was an understatement and so she arranged everything to get me my half of the bar back and my job of course. She actually thought it would work, I too, but nothing really seemed the same after all those years.

I found out, that Sookie had a few kids with the shifter and died after a happy and fulfilled life and her bloodline has continued to this day. I donated a big sum of money to the family, of course anonymously and sent some vampires to protect them, but still…the emptiness of my life didn't seem to wear off.

Today has been just like all the other days since I was back, until a fight had started and there were no fights allowed in my bar, nor drinking from a human without permission.

I did not care a bit, that this vampire was supposed to be our barkeeper, at least it was fun to play the alpha male again, but even that didn't feel as it used to be.

I reached down to help the girl get to her feet again. I mean we didn't want to get involved with the police, the authority, or any other annoying agency, that had to deal with such incidents.

Just when I was about to leave again, because I sure as hell wasn't interested in women at all, not for blood, nor for fucking them, I froze. She was looking up to me and her eyes seemed as blue as the ocean and in some way familiar. I couldn't tell why, but I was not able to look away. Her eyes were completely capturing me.

"Chrchrm" a very familiar and annoyed sound came to my ears and even if I didn't want to, I had to look to my right and was staring at Pam and she wasn't in a good mood…at all.

"Eric, what the fuck is wrong with you?" she hissed at me and I didn't even bother to respond.

"Pamela you will take her back to my office and I'm gonna go deal with Loui…" My words were harsh and nobody in this bar would even dare to look at us, nor talk back at me.

"Leo…" she corrected me annoyed and I just clenched my teeth, whilst my hands were formed into fists and I straightened up even more. "Pam…" I just said losing my patience and gave her a look, that she understood perfectly.

"Of course…" she said and didn't seem to mean it, but that wasn't my business at all, because I had to deal with this asshole of a barkeeper now, instead of finding out who this girl was. Not that I was interested in women, like I said before, but something about her was just… I couldn't describe it myself.

ANNA POV

The woman, whom I encountered first at the door, didn't seem to be delighted by her new assignment, but well, I wanted still a job at this bar, so I'd take any chance I get.

Before walking away I turned around and shouted "Hey Mister tall and pale" into the direction of my savior and immediately the people surrounding us stopped in everything they were doing and the human ones even held their breath. They looked completely frozen and the woman besides me, Pam, froze a bit too.

The vampire turned around and looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but I just continued. "Thanks for throwing this ass across the room. You know, I would've done it myself, but I was a bit occupied processing what kind of shitty people you're hiring. So thank's again for saving my life."

During my speech his eyebrows rose even more and after I've ended he looked at me like he'd seen a ghost.

"Sassy much little Miss I'm wearing a sundress to a bar, huh?" he replied, confident as before and I just frowned and replied "Oh you don't know even the slightest bit about me, Eric."

I didn't know where this came from, but since Bill, the host on TV, was also just called Bill by almost everybody, I figured I did just go for the first name thing based on what I saw on TV.

Pam beside me seemed to slowly loose her patience, so she grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the crowd in the direction of a big throne placed on a platform.

Eric didn't have time to say anything so I just shouted "And by the way, my name is Anna…" before he drowned in the crowd and possibly started to deal with the guy that attacked me.

The closer we got to the throne on the stage the closer we also got to a door at the right, which had a sign on it _'For staff only'_ and after we disappeared through it, Pam closed the door.

She didn't speak a word, until we came across a door with another sign. _'Eric's office'_ the sign said and within seconds I was seated on a chair across the table.

I didn't even have time to look around, but the office felt familiar as well, because maybe all offices in the whole wide world looked like that?

"So darling, now we're talking business. What exactly did you do to crash our evening?"

At first I didn't know what to answer, I mean I didn't do anything, right?

"Nothing…" I replied a little bit unsure and that I maybe should've not done, but Pam just made me feel uncomfortable.

"Nothing?" she asked in her bored tone as usual.

"Yes, I was just ordering a cola…" I ignored her chuckling. "I told the guy, that I loved vampires and then he wanted to give me a 20 for a fuck date. I mean really? What kind of establishment do you even run here?"

My anger was boiling up again and like said before I wasn't good at hiding my emotions, nor holding them back.

"Well…" she started and I could smell the annoyance in her tone from like a mile away.

"We're running a vampire bar, sweetie, so bloodsucking and fucking is something that happens on a daily basis here, but willingly of course…otherwise the authorities would close down the bar immediately."

I couldn't even respond, before she continued asking me some other questions.

"What does a girl like you even here at Fangtasia?" she asked and I tried to put a serious expression on my face and straighten up a little bit.

"Well, I read in the newspaper, that you're hiring, so I wanted to give the bar a closer look, before coming by…"

Pam looked like me as I would've just told her, that I was a unicorn.

We weren't able to continue our discussion because another person entered the room and I was pretty sure who it was.

"Who is hiring?" he asked in a curious tone I guess and Pam just replied "We are, Eric and if you would pay even the slightest attention to your job, you would know that…but well, we aren't hiring that little blonde girly here, are we?"

I truly felt offended by her words, but I decided to just watch their heated conversation from the sidelines, to maybe find out what it was that made Eric seem familiar. Just he walking into this room had made me feel more comfortable in an instant and Pam was sure as hell not even comparable to his power, so why did I not feel frightened at all?

"So you wanna work here, Anna?" Eric asked and my nod was followed by a "Yes, it would be great if you'd hire me…"

During their conversation Pam had left her seat behind the desk and now Eric was seating himself on his leather office chair and looking at me again with those hypnotizing blue eyes and curious expression.

I folded my hands in front of me on the desk and waited for a respond, but it seemed like Pam couldn't believe, that he actually deliberated about whether he should hire me or not.

She didn't keep her opinion a secret and looked at him a little bit shocked. "Eric, you can't be serious…" she said, but the vampire across the table didn't even seem to hear her words. In an instant he had grabbed my left hand and was looking closely at the ring on my finger.

"Where did you get this?!" His voice wasn't anything like before. His eyes were cold, his expression angry and his words harsh.

I had to swallow hard, but I couldn't let myself be bothered by his reaction.

"Uhm I bought it at a shop…" I explained myself and was hoping that this would be enough.

"Which shop?" he asked, still no change.

"An antique store downtown that I discovered through my mother. She works as an interior designer."

He nodded and then took Pam by the hand and left the room, leaving me behind not knowing what was actually going on.

ERICS POV

I was completely stunned and shocked at the same time. Outside of my office, I walked down the long hallway back and forth, before I hammered down my fist against the bricks of the wall.

"Eric!" Pam shouted not knowing what was going on. "What the fuck is going on with you today?!"

I couldn't explain it myself, nor did I want to, but it seemed like Pam wouldn't give up anyway.

"Pam, where did all my stuff go, that Freya did not approve of taking to her castle?" I asked her and she looked at me with a confused expression.

"I don't know" she shrugged and her tone was a bit too screechy in my opinion, but that was nothing I cared about, not right now.

"I guess, her guards through it away…"

She walked towards me with a concerned look and her words almost begging me to explain everything to her. "Eric, please, what is going on here?" she asked almost desperately.

I sighed and growled, before I started to explain it to her. "That ring, that girl, Anna, was wearing. I bought it for Sookie. I wanted to explain everything to her and ask her to marry me for real, not just the vampire marriage we had, before everything went to shit with the contract and her mistrusting me. I wanted to prove to her, that she could be happy in a relationship with me."

Pam sighed and nodded. "I suppose she really just bought it…"

"I suppose…" was my only answer, before walking back to my office, even more confused and shaken by memories of a long forgotten past, than before.

Pam actually wanted to follow me, but I stopped her and closed the door behind me, startling Anna, who was snooping around my office.

ANNAS POV

I couldn't hear a sound through this sound proof door of Eric's office. Dam it I thought to myself, but I was way too nervous to just sit around and wait, so I stood up, walked around the room and started looking at some stuff.

I didn't know why I did, what I did, normally I would never ever go through other peoples things, but I didn't feel that it was wrong to look around a bit.

Completely lost in thoughts while going through his things I didn't hear Eric come back again and totally turned around yelling in shock "Don't you knock?" which made Eric…again…stare weirdly at me.

"This is my office, Anna…so no; I do not knock at my own office door, if that was what you were asking…"

Before I was able to say anything, I mean, how stupid was that? he continued asking a much more essential question.

"I see, you made yourself quite at home here by now…" I bit my lip and knew, that he witnessed me snooping around and explained myself with the words "I just felt like figuring out for who I'd work if you hire me of course…" because Sorry has never been I word, that came very easy to me.

He walked over to his desk and set down again. "Well if I do hire you, Anna…what would be your profession?" he asked and I knew very well as what I wanted to work here, a waitress of course.

His look on the other hand did tell me something very different and I didn't know what to make of it.

I swallowed and just stared at him and he didn't dare to look away as well. I tried to breathe in and out as proper as I was able to do and tried to get every piece of my confidence back, that was still left somewhere in this room.

"I wanna work as a waitress…" I said, not even looking away for a second.

"I see…" were his words and I nodded.

Eric got up from the chair and grabbed my arm, but not as forcing as Pam and walked with me out of the office. I looked at him confused, while I tried to not stumble across my own feet. "Then I'm gonna show you around a bit."

Pam was still standing in the hallway and while passing by he told her "We found our new employee Pamela, you can take the ad down" not even caring how she reacted.

After a tour around Fangtasia and a lot of vampires as well as humans staring we finally got back to the hallway.

"So what do you think about my club, Anna?" he asked me looking down on me with his intense gaze. It almost seemed like something depended on how I liked Fangtsia.

"It's pretty amazing, except for some customers…I guess…" was my true respond and he seemed even a bit delighted by my answer. "Then you just have to pick your outfit and the most important question, when can you start?"

A big smile was plastered across my face. I really got the job, it was unbelievable and I would lie, if I'd tell, that he didn't look at me once, twice, or even a few times more, but I doubt, that Eric would hire his staff just by looks.

"Whenever you need me…" I was so excited, that I got the job that I really didn't care when I would start working here. Hopefully as soon, as possible.

"We store the different clothes and merchandise downstairs…" he explained and led the way to almost the end of the hallway, where some stairs went into the ground. Eric went first and I followed.

It was pretty dark down here, but I guess that's normal for a storage room, at least I thought it was one, until he switched on the light.

My expression must've looked priceless with my mouth open and my eyes wide; looking at the room in front of me and not sure if it was a torture chamber of the Middle Ages or a kinky sex dungeon. No matter what it was, it wasn't good.

After a few minutes I felt Erics intense stare on me…again…and slowly looked up, still unsure what to make of all this and of course, Mister tall and pale had his sexy grin on his plastered on his face.

"I don't even wanna know…" I replied to a not asked question and started to look around for the staff outfits.

I felt pretty lost down here, so I turned around and looked at the vampire. "I imagine a medium sized outfit would fit you perfectly…" he said, maybe more to himself, than me…whatever and was hovering some boxes to get to another.

"We have dresses, as well as skirts and shirts, or tops and pants…what do you chose?"

"Uhm…" I replied getting closer and taking a peek at the clothes. „I guess I'll take the pants, long and short ones and a shirt and a top, just to be sure and decide what I wear based on the weather.

He nodded and grabbed the said black clothes with the red Fangtasia logo on them, before he also grabbed some matching black stiletto heels and a black purse.

"Here we go" And soon I didn't even see Eric anymore, because I had a whole load of clothes in my arms.

"Try them on" were his only words and I didn't even see how serious he was, because the only thing I was able to see was a mountain of clothes in my arms.

"Okay…" I guess he wanted to know if these fitted me for maybe ordering another pair to change, or whatsoever.

I waited for him to leave, but nothing happened. In the meantime I had put the clothes on a box and he looked at me, like he was waiting and I at him too.

"At least turn around, if you don't wanna leave me alone in your precious torture slash sex dungeon." I sounded a bit annoyed, but well, he just raised his eyebrow again and did what I said, before I turned around too and shouted over my shoulder "And don't you dare to peek."

Ready in black pants, a black top and the matching stilettos I turned around again to only find Eric staring at me with an expression that I wasn't really able to understand completely.

"What did I just say?" I put my arms on my hips and stared at him deadly serious, which only made him walk slowly over and with every step he took towards me I took a step backwards, until feeling the boxes in my knees and falling onto them.

Biting my lip I looked up at Eric who was now standing not even half a meter away from me, looking down at me with his ice blue eyes and not moving a muscle. My heart almost jumped out of my body and I couldn't breathe. I was just staring at him and now he was slowly bending forwards until his eyes were just inches away from mine and I got a closer look into the deep pools of a pretty old vampires soul.

"And now I'm gonna fuck you here in every position possible" he aspirated into my ear, while a cold shiver was running down my spine and I swore, that I stopped breathing for a moment.

For a split second a part of me wanted to scream Yes! Wait a minute. I never even kissed a guy so I sure as hell would not have sex with a vampire in a dungeon…not in a million years, like I said before.

Way to soon he bended backwards again and reached down with his big hand to help me up, grabbed me and walked with me and my clothes upstairs again.

What the hell had just happened? I was totally confused and still not sure if my heart was beating, or I had started breathing again, but in the hallway we came across Pam and so I simply had to come back to reality.

"Since when does the great Eric Northman care about anything employee related?" she asked with a raised brow and I just had to blink twice.

"Eric Northman?" I asked with a slightly shocked expression.

"My name" he replied and turned around staring at me.

"The Eric Northman?" I asked and the two vampires in front of me seemed confused.

"As far as I'm aware there is just me…the one and only" he responded with his typical grin on his face and I stumbled a few steps backwards and grabbing a small table behind me.

"Uhm there is this book series…" I started "And there is a character named Eric Northman and since it is based on a real encounter with vampires, I suppose…"

Pam sighed annoyed. "Yeah, I'm in this crappy shit too, as well as this useless TV host Compton…"

Bill Compton? Bill from Fangtastic was that Bill? I looked even more surprised now.

"And I thought that book series was long forgotten…" Eric said with a bit of surprise in his voice.

"It is. Nobody is reading, or watching this shit anymore. They're over us, except for the real deal…" Pam replied and I shook my head. "No, I've even seen Dracula and know any halfway popular vampire fiction, that was ever out there."

Eric grabbed my arm again and walked me back into his office.

"Listen, Anna…" he started and I was again just staring at him. "These novels were written a very long time ago and not only me, but everybody in them just wants to forget about all the things that ever happened, so I don't ask for anything in return since I saved your life, just keep this novels to yourself.

I nodded and was still completely shocked, not only by our encounter in the dungeon, but also by the simple fact, that the story I knew by heart, since I was in middle school, is actually based on my new boss.

Way too soon the door opened again and Pam told Eric something in Swedish.

"Well Anna, there is an emergency out at the bar; I guess I'll see you the day after tomorrow at your first shift."

I nodded. "Yes, you won't regret hiring me."

"That I don't think for a moment" He winked at me with this look again and the words "Just let yourself out" and disappeared with Pam through the hallway.

Still completely shaken by this encounter I slowly started walking towards the back entrance of the bar. Not that anyone had told me, that there was one, but in the books it existed, so I wasn't surprised, that I really found the backdoor and as soon, as the cool air of night hit me I felt much better and clearer in my head.

I walked over to my car and leaned against the engine, closing my eyes for a moment and just inhaling the air.

I really had met Eric Northman, the guy of my dreams. I never was much interested in the humans around me. Since I always read vampire literature and watched movies and shows about them, there wasn't much of a thrill, when a boy asked me out and even nowadays, nobody I met could compare to the guy I imagined in my dreams.

I mean there are a lot of cool vampire guys in fiction, or non fiction, apparently, but hands down, I never loved any novel more, than this one, so I guess it wasn't surprising, that I had a crush on the fictional Eric Northman since middle school, right?

I was not sure what I had gotten myself into, but maybe that would explain why it all and Eric too had felt so familiar and right now I could've really slapped myself for not figuring it out earlier, but I blamed Loui, Leo…whatever for hitting my head to hard and of course Eric, for staring at me with this deep blue eyes, while I was driving home and processing all that had happened in one night, that actually started out as a plain job interview.

**So that was it, the first meeting. Did you like it? Just tell me in a review and do you believe the familiar feeling just steamed from some novels she read?**


	4. Chapter 4 - It's darkest before the dawn

**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows again. Here are some quick answers to some reviews, that I feel won't be answered directly through the story.**

**suzyq59:** In chapter three Eric explained why he did recognize the ring and it's quite an old one actually. He will tell her one day, what this ring exactly is, so I don't spoil that, but she has such a strong connection to it, because it was connected to Eric and his love for Sookie that's why destiny let her stumble across it.

**KYsun:** Nope, none at all. Like Eric said in the last chapter, he sent some money to Sookies remaining relatives and also vampires to protect them, but Anna is not related to this family.

**Patito:** Because she never really was interested in guys. She had a few crushes in school, like she said herself, but looking back she laughs about the thought, that she believed back then, that this was real love. So she is simply not really able to fall for anybody, because she wants something more, that didn't cross her path yet.

**Shyann2:** Thank you. I actually thought that she maybe acts a little more immature, than Sookie, but she is younger, than Sookie in the first book, so I was okay with that, but I'm also glad to hear, that she does not, but maybe you will think differently about it in a few chapters. ;)

**Here is the next chapter, I actually had planned her first day at Fangtasia to be also in this one, but it got quite long, so next time.**

**PS: Because we're already on chapter 4 I suppose, that this story will have at least 20 chapters before something happens and we see Sookie again…the real Sookie. However this is gonna work…I don't wanna spoil you.**

ANNAS POV

After my evening at Fangtasia I went straight home and was actually glad, that none of my family members were still awake, so I fell tired into my bed and slept through the whole night.

Today was my second day at school of this semester and the annoying sound of my alarm didn't seem so crucial, like it did yesterday and all the mornings before. With a small smile on my face I set up in my bed and relived yesterday through my thoughts, whilst I kept staring out of the window.

It was a beautiful morning, wasn't it? Considering it for a moment, I ended up turning my music player on and had to laugh at myself quite a bit. I never would've thought, that getting a job would change my whole life, but well, I was well aware of the fact, that in this case I was lying to myself.

It wasn't that I didn't wanted a job, I mean I was really looking forward to find something to do besides law school, but the reason for my good mood was blonde, tall and pretty much undead and I knew it. Why I didn't care? I had no fucking idea, but it was just like that and I was not even thinking about changing the smallest thing about it.

Some of my favorite songs were blasting my ears, before I left my room and made my way over to the bathroom, cause even though I was in a good mood, being late wasn't an option.

After half an hour, like almost always, I was ready and clothed, so that I was able to walk downstairs for breakfast.

Still in a good mood and well-rested I was entering the kitchen and greeting my grandma with a "Good morning, Gran" before I set down and decided to go with some cereal.

I felt her observant look on me and after I had put a bowl with some milk and cereal in front of me and finally had sat down, I looked up and asked a little bit annoyed "What?" waiting for a response, because I never liked it, when someone started at me for too long, well…until yesterday.

"You just seem different. Did you sleep well, my dear?" she asked me, now a little bit concerned and I nodded. "Yes! Actually very well." I don't know when I ever slept through the whole night and felt that good not even an hour after getting up. Normally I was pretty moody, especially in the morning, but not today, at least it seemed like it.

My grandma nodded too and now the inevitable question came up. "So how was that job interview of yours and when did you get home anyway?" she asked me and at first I didn't know what to respond…at all.

"Uhm…" was the only thing that came to my mind and I was shoving more cereal into my mouth, so that I would've time to think about something, while I was eating my breakfast.

"Very good, I got the job and yeah it was pretty late" I responded almost five minutes later and was hoping, that would be enough information for her, but I knew my gran, so the investigation had just begun.

"That's wonderful to hear, so tell me something about that vampire bar, your job, your colleagues, whatever comes to your mind."

Damn it! I was thinking, because I actually had planned to keep most of yesterday's events to myself, but I simply had to come up with something to satisfy my grandmother.

I rolled my eyes a bit, like I always did, when someone started to ask my some too private questions but sighed and gave in after all, which wasn't a big surprise for my grandmother, because she became always the answers that she demanded, even though she just seemed much more like a concerned and interested grandmother, than a demanding private investigator.

"Hmm, you know…" I started and was still not sure what exactly I wanted to tell her. "I arrived a bit early, so I had time to discover the place by myself and there are really all kinds of people. I ordered a Cola, so I don't know how the drinks are, but I guess a cola just tastes pretty much the same, no matter where you go, right?"

That was a good start, wasn't it? Damn it, I hated lying, but if I told her, that the barkeeper almost drained me, well, she wouldn't be that fond of Fangtasia and my new job there anymore, at least I guessed so.

"Later that evening I went to one of the staff members and asked where to go if I wanted to apply for a job and she got a woman, that also worked there as a doorman..woman…whatever. She took me to an office and interviewed me, before the boss of the bar was called in and after a few questions I pretty much had the job."

Okay, that went surprisingly well. I actually wanted to skip the question about the colleagues, but hence, my grandma didn't seem to suffer from any sort of Alzheimers, because sometimes she seemed to remember her questions better, than I did.

"With your grades and professionalism, I didn't question, that you would get any job that you wanted, honey…so I'm really not that surprised, that they gave you the job." She smiled and I tried to fake a small grin myself…again I hated lying.

"So, did you meet any of the people you're working with and when do you start?" she asked with that sparkle in her eyes, because my gran could never get enough information, maybe I did get this from her after all. Yeah, I know, as a very private person I shouldn't be that nosy, but I just wanted to know everything and have everything under control…I was a perfectionist and law student, so what did you expect?

Putting another spoon full of cereal into my mouth I again was able to gather some time, before I had to answer the last two of my grandmothers pressing questions.

"Tomorrow evening…" I replied between two spoons of cereal and didn't watch my grandma's expression. "Uhm my colleagues, they are…you know, I didn't have time to really meet them. The woman I talked to was pretty much okay, the man at the door…I have no clue… he was just looking very serious and my boss is also…yeah…he's okay too. Hopefully I meet some other people tomorrow."

I hadn't realized, that I was sweating a bit, while creating a story, that was somehow close to the truth and was really relieved, after this part of our morning conversation was over.

"Oh, well…then you have to tell me everything the day after tomorrow…" she said and I nodded with clenched teeth and just replied"Sure, Gran…"

Actually I was pretty grateful, that my mum wasn't at home, because she wouldn't be delighted about my new job and that was pretty much the understatement of the year. Tracy didn't like vampires; my mum was running the imaginary vampire hunt troupes of Louisiana. Yeah, that would describe it perfectly. But she would find out anyway and well then I'd be hanged, beheaded and burned at the stake for my sins and crimes.

A look at the watch in our kitchen told me, that I was almost late, so I put a last spoon of cereal in my mouth, before I grabbed my bag, gave my grandmother a kiss on the check and was out of the door.

Half an hour later I stood in front the big old building of our university and wasn't sure if I was hoping to run into Tracy, or if I should better try to avoid here for today. I was still in a decent mood and Miss-Judgy would probably screw this up… not that I ever judged her for working as a stripper and taking money for certain uhm services, but working for a vampire had turned my suddenly into public enemy number one.

Sitting down on my usual bench, because I didn't have to attend first period, but rather was waiting for the student office to open, I plugged my earphones in and started listening to some of my favorite songs, like I did this morning.

Completely lost in my thoughts, thinking about a certain vampire, that I would meet again pretty soon and what I would tell the student office, why I wanted to add another law specialty to my list of courses, I almost got a heart attack, when someone pinched me on my shoulder. I turned around with a panic expression on my face and I could swear that my heart almost stopped for a split second.

"Tracy Lauren Bellefleur!" I yelled at her in disbelief and looked at her with a deadly expression.

"Sorry…" she mumbled and sat down beside me. "About what?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and Missy here next to me was pretty well aware what I was talking about.

"Okay…" she sighed and looked at me a bit apologetic. "What?" I asked again and Tracy knew, that her big eyes and long lashed didn't work on me. She sighed again and I still waited, not changing my expression a bit.

"Anna, I'm sorry for how I reacted yesterday. I should've known, that you're way too stubborn and that you probably never run from any danger, so it's your decision as what you wanna work and I shouldn't forbid you anything."

I sighed in relieve and was able to put a small grin on my face. "Exactly and Trace, I do not just not run from danger, I'm seeking it out and then I run towards it, remember." I winked at her, before we hugged each other and I had one problem less on my plate.

"So how was it?" she asked me almost inaudible and I stared at her, disbelief all written over my face. "Are you serious?!" I asked her still completely taken aback by what she had just asked. "Come on, Anna…just tell me anything, no matter what…"

Oh, no matter what? I may have forgiven her, but I was not so fast in forgetting, since I remembered even every silly detail about my life and the life of others. "I ordered a cola…" was my response and now Tracy was the one to stare at me in disbelief.

"Are you serious, Anna?" she asked and I nodded. "That's just not fair, I apologized and am now interested in your new night life, so the least you can do is tell me something important about your new job" she complained and I finally gave in, because I wasn't a person, that held a grudge against anybody, that didn't commit a serious crime, not in opinion of the law, but in my own.

"Okay, I got the job, as you figured; I ordered a cola and before the interview I had some time to take a look around. Later I was interviewed by the doorman, or doorwoman and the owner of the club and after a few questions I had the job…nothing too special."

I hoped that instead of my grandma, Tracy would be fine with what I just told her, she could be happy, that I was even up for a talk and told her anything.

"That was easy, but my job interview wasn't much longer…" she replied and I nodded with a look on the old church clock which was placed over the big entrance door of the university.

"Sorry, I have to go…I'm already running late…" I explained myself, grabbed my bag and was hurrying towards the entrance, while Tracy shouted"For what?"after me and I made a quick turnaround to just shout "Vampire laws" back in her direction and as figured, she didn't understand a thing.

Right after the stroke of the old clock clung in my ears; I entered the student office and greeted the woman behind the desk.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" she asked with a too broad fake smile on her face and I started to explain myself. "I'm in my second semester and want to take on another specialty and since I had to apply for my other two here I figured, that's where I had to go."

"Another specialty?" she asked a little too squeaky and I nodded. "Yes, I'm already registered for finance and crime…"

"And what specialty do you wanna register for now? You know, that only two and in some exceptional cases three, are allowed at this institution."

I nodded again. "Yes, I'm aware of that, but if you look into my records, you'll see, that my undergraduate is quite outstanding and my grades from last semester too…"

Now I was getting a bit nervous, because after yesterday I was surer than ever that I wanted to specialize into vampire laws, but giving up one of my other specialties would hurt me too, but not as much as not attending vampire law classes at all.

"Name?" she asked now pretty emotionless with a bored expression on her face.

"Anastasia Pryce."

She quickly looked up, scanned me and then typed my name in the computer. "I see, I see…I guess this will be possible…"

A smile appeared on my face and now the secretary wasn't able to hold her emotions back any longer.

"But why does an outstanding student as you are with a specialty in finance and crimes even want to do vampire laws? Do you wanna destroy a career, that has not even started yet, or are you another of this pride less fangbangers?"

Now I felt pretty insulted. My tone changed in an instant and I was eying her like I was a vampire and she would become my next dinner.

"And what makes you think that…Gabriella…" I asked with a stone like expression, after a quick look on her name tag, my voice cold as ice and my eyes on her like I wanted to strangle her any second.

She swallowed hard and was just looking at me with wide eyes.

"I…figured…that…" My words were as sharp as knives and after every one of them she sunk even more into her chair.

"You know, Gabriella, not all vampires are like the ones you are referring too…" and with those words I turned on my heels and with a last look over my shoulder I asked "I guess my application is settled?" and watched her nod quite eager. "Well then have a good day, Gabriella" and so I walked out of the office.

Holding my head high and with a satisfied expression on my face, I walked through the halls of my school, thinking about the encounter I just had with Gabriella. I was definitely right, not all vampires were like that…using humans just as fangbangers. I was pretty sure Eric didn't fall in this category.

Would he have liked my performance at the student's office? I thought so, because yesterday it seemed like he was pretty impressed by this side of me.

Almost bumping into another student I was shaking my head and brought myself back to reality. What the hell was I even thinking? I had to hurry up anyway, because now I had to attend a few criminal law classes, before I would meet up for lunch with Tracy and had to endure my birthday in the afternoon.

I wasn't so fond of my birthday and whenever someone wished me Happy Birthday, before I was even born on this day, I got angry anyway, so at least Tracy had remembered what I told her…lucky me.

A few hours later I was standing in front of our house. All classes over for today, lunch with Tracy and a small present over too and now I just had to endure this afternoon, before tomorrow would be almost here.

I tried to enter as quiet as possible and had forgotten about the car parked in front of our house. I had been wondering who it was, but my birthday was always clouding my brain and so I had completely forgotten about it when I was walking through the hallway.

Wait…there were voices…three of them and all of them were somehow familiar. "Oh no" I mumbled and in an instant my heart had almost stopped beating, while I must have looked like If I had seen a ghost. I swallowed hard. Were they out of there minds? It seemed so.

I sighed again and felt pretty enraged, so I didn't think anymore, but instead was walking towards our living area. "Good afternoon" I shouted and was looking at all three of them with a deadly expression.

"Happy Birthday, lucky me, huh? Are you all planning a nice party?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could bring myself to speak and almost crinched while hearing myself speak. They all knew something was up and were very well aware of what it was, but I hadn't even started yet.

I witnessed my grandma swallowing hard, while my mum was kneading her hands and the man sitting on the other chair was just staring at me.

My mom was the first of them who was able to speak. "Happy Birthday" she said and wanted to get up and probably give me a hug.

"Cut the crap!" I almost yelled and looked still at all three of them, if I was about to create a bloody massacre.

"What the fuck is he doing here?!" were my next words and nobody of them was able to give me an answer. "You know what…I don't even care…I don't wanna know…betraying me behind my back…smart move mum…smart move…" I kept on shouting.

"And you?" I was looking into the direction of my father. "Out!" I was dead serious and pointing into the direction of the door. Nobody was moving, or saying anything. "I said get the fuck out of my house, or I swear to god I'm gonna do something, that we're all gonna regret!"

My eyes were directly pointed at him and I didn't even flinch, when he was standing up, looking one last time at my mother and walking into the direction of the door, to probably get his jacket.

Like my mother and my grandma I didn't move a muscle until I heard the front door and walked a few steps towards the both of them. It seemed like my grandmother had found her confidence again and had calmed a bit down, because whilst my mother seemed still speechless, she tried to calm me a bit down.

"Sweetie, just sit down for a moment and we're gonna tell you why he was here…it was actually to help you." I had to laugh for a moment. Help me, really? This man was helping me every single day with staying as far away from me as possible.

"Really? Because last time I checked, my father was helping me best, when he stayed as far away from me as possible!"

Regardless of everything I had made my way over to the sofas and chairs and finally set down. "So why exactly did you need his help, or for the matter of fact…I?" I asked pretty damn interested what lie my mum would pull out of her sleeve this time.

"Anna, it was about your new job" my mum explained and if I'd be a comic character now would've been the perfect time, that a bright yellow bulb would appear over my head, because everything that didn't make sense before had finally fallen into place perfectly. Riddle solved, but hence I wouldn't make it that easy and decided to play a bit dumb.

"So what about my job? Why should I need the help of the man, that out of all men on this planet I despised the most?"

My mother sighed and a look at my grandmother told me that she felt pretty much uncomfortable, probably for telling mum in her lunch break about my new job.

"Grandma told my about your interview and that you got the job" my mother started and I nodded and continued with a side blow. "Exactly, mum…most parents or mothers would be happy, that their kid got a job…"

My mum started to knead her hands again and after almost a minute she said "Yes, normally I would be, but…you know…" and that was just enough.

"Come on, cut the crap, it is at a vampire bar and that simply does collide with your engagement for the fellowship of the sun, right?" I rolled my eyes and was damn sure, that I was right.

Now she stood up and was looking at me with a serious expression. Of course, I was a big bad criminal and state enemy number one for working at Fangtasia. I should probably write it down on a post it and put this one on my forehead, so that I wouldn't forget about that fact.

I stood up as well and even though I was a bit taller than her I was able to look perfectly into her eyes, because now I was dead serious. "And you know that I would love nothing more than to feed your close-minded racist vampire haters to my new customers!" I spit into her direction, not even changing my expression for a second.

I knew very well why my mother had called my father, because even though he never wanted a family, or was agreeing with anything she said, he never let an opportunity slide through his fingers when he was able to kick the damn bloodsuckers in the ass, like he always used to say and in this case my mum and he acted like besties again, so getting me out of the contract at Fangtasia was just the perfect challenge for him.

"Sweetheart, Grace, both of you, sit down again!" my grandmother said now. My grandmother was a pretty patient person, but when she had enough nobody should even try to pick a fight with her.

"Anna, what your mother wanted to say was, that she had looked into the bar you're going to work at a bit and despite some incidents, that have occurred in the past few years, what had stuck out for her was the owner of this business."

My eyebrows rose up in an instant and I was looking at her in disbelief just repeating "Owner?", whilst completely thrown off track. What about Eric? I asked myself and was trying to breathe and not just die here and now.

"His name is Eric Northman…" my mother started and annoyed I just replied "I know" I'm gonna work for this guy, so I had to be interviewed by him and his co-owner. "And you can be glad, that you've come out of this bar alive…" my mother continued and now I just started laughing uncontrollably. I was probably loosing my mind already.

"Oh is that so?" I spit back and shot deadly looks at her. "This vampire, Anna…is over thousand years old…has killed more people, than you can maybe imagine and just came back from being married to the vampire queen of Oklahoma and that for two hundred years. According to my colleagues things happened there, that you do not even wanna picture and we all know that after such a long time of enslavement even a vampire can go crazy and fall into his instinctive behavior. Northman was never the kind of vampire you wanted to meet in a dark alley and after his enslavement he'll just turn out to be even more barbaric and cruel than before."

During my mother's speech a million of thoughts had been running through my mind. Half of the time I just said in my head "I know" to not go crazy or slap her across the face, which would turn out pretty bad for me, since I was still living in the same house as her and all the other thoughts, that my mind has come up with were nothing, that I would even dare to let my mother know, for example, that I rather felt bad for Eric, that he had to be married to such a bitch for two hundred years, or that he was exactly the guy…vampire…that I wanted to meet in a dark alley…

"And which insane delusional dumbass has told you that, mother?" I asked not even bothering for a moment with all the crap that she had just dared to even repeat out loud.

"Revered Pascal Newlin." And don't you dare to question the word of a Newlin, Anna; you know as well, as I do, that his ancestor Steve Newlin has founded this organization just when the vampires had first announced their existence."

Steve Newlin? I would've fallen off my chair out of laughter, if I would've not been that angry with her, the crazy fellowship and the world in general. "Seems like being a delusional nut job runs in the family, huh?" I asked, instead of even to consider talking about any fact, that my mother had just told me, not that I didn't knew about all of this before.

"It doesn't matter what you think of Pascal, his family, or the fellowship in general, Anna. This is a bad man and you should never have to interact with him again. There are vampires out there that act way more mainstream, like this Bill for example. So quit your job and I'm gonna find you something new in the designing department of my office, okay?"

I had not even listened to her words, after she told me, that I should never have to see Eric again. While she was still speaking I had just stood up and waited for her to finish all this bullshit that he fellowship tried to implant in all our heads.

"You know what, what about NO?! I won't quit and I won't stop working for Eric Northman and if you excuse me now, I have business to go to instead of listening to my mother repeating the words of completely delusional and insane people!"

With these words I was out of the door in a few seconds, glad to always have my car keys in the bag I wore for the day and speeding down the main road.

I was a complete and utter mess. Of course, I was never running from a fight, I always faced them head on, but it would be a lie, if I told anybody, that it wouldn't bother me. This was definitely one of the biggest betrayals my mother ever had came up with as well as one of the biggest fights we had in years.

Turning the radio on and blasting my ears with some songs I was driving way too fast. The rain made it hard to see through the windshield and I hadn't even realized, that tears were streaming down my face, but I didn't even consider stopping for a moment.

I had to drive, far away and if it was up to me, I would never come back here. They were all crazy and had no idea, but the scariest part of it all was probably, that I didn't even care that much about my father, or what my mother had done, nor my grandmother being halfway on her side, it was the thought of never going to Fangtasia and never seeing him again that was driving me totally insane.

Good god, he was a stranger, I just had met him yesterday, but it had felt like if we knew each other. Maybe it was because of the fact, that I knew half the story of his life, but still, I couldn't…never…quitting was not an option. I'd rather…I wasn't even sure what I'd rather, but a lot, if not anything and again I didn't know where it was coming from.

Way too soon my head started spinning and I knew that it was better to stop now, before I'd really hurt myself. I looked around and slowed a bit down and what I saw put an even more confused expression on my face. I was pretty sure, that yesterday was the first day that I even had driven in this area, or to Fangtasia, but I found myself on the abandoned highway, not even more, than just a few meters away from the parking lot of the bar.

Not even sure what I was about to do I turned left and pretty quick; because nobody was parked here, I had found a suiting parking lot and stopped my car. In no time I got out of it and my feet felt like pudding. I was still completely shaken by the fallout that had occurred just half an hour ago.

Leaning against the engine I tried to clear my head and maybe the rain would wash all the bad feelings away? Staring at the bright red logo, which was at this time of the day not lighted, I was again lost in my thoughts, before I started to shiver a bit. I must have almost stood here for ten minutes and was soaking wet…great.

I still didn't know if I should go inside, nobody was even here at this time of the day, but somehow my feet were quicker than my head and so I was walking into the direction of the bar and more than just astonished when I walked around the corner, to try the backdoor and I was looking at a lonely red Corvette, that looked almost abandoned in the empty parking lot behind the building.

Red corvette. My brain started to chatter and I was very well aware of the person who this car actually belonged to and doubted, that it wasn't still the case. I glanced a last time at the bright red car and then continued my way to the back door, but of course, it was locked.

What was I even expecting? Not sure where this idea had come from, I stepped back and looked under the doormat, which was colored in the dominant Fangtasia colors aka red and black and had also the logo printed on it and voila there was a key.

A smile crossed my face, before I tried the key and it worked, but I was very sure about that, since normally only keys were hidden under a doormat that fitted the door, that the mat was placed in front of…which actually sounded very logical.

As silent as possible I opened the door, slipped into the bar and closed the door just as silent behind me. You realize you're just breaking into a bar Miss-Lawyer-To-Be? I reminded myself and was pretty annoyed by this constant voice of responsibility in my head.

Slowly and trying to not make any noise I started to walk down the hall, looking at all the signs at the different doors, not sure what I was even doing here or what I was looking for. Liar! The voice shouted in my head and I sighed. Yeah, maybe I was a bit more sure and aware of what I was doing, that I actually wanted to take credit for.

Not a single door did give me the answer I was looking for, but instead I was standing in front the one that I actually knew. A few silent knocks and a try later I had to walk on, because the door of Eric's office was closed.

There were just two more, until I reached the big door, that would lead me into the big bar room and after trying that one I had something to smile about, because this door was not closed. Opening it I stared into an empty room, before I slowly glanced at the big throne on stage, but it was just as empty, as the bar room itself.

I sighed again, because I sure as hell wasn't that dumb and any not suicidal vampire was still asleep during this time of the day. But the corvette… I tried to convince myself of at least something.

I knew that Eric owned a house somewhere here in Shreveport, where he also had a day chamber to sleep in, at least according to the books, but normally he drove there. Eric Northman would never leave his precious car…I at least had to guess that, because more than 200 years of pretty much bad things had happened to him, after the events that I was able to read about in the books.

It was just hopeless…as much as I was considered a hopeless case for today, so I walked back to the office with the tag Eric's office and leaned against it, before I slowly sunk to my knees and tears started to stream down my face for the second time this day.

I was still soaking wet and now freezing, because I hadn't had time to grab my jacket, while I had left my house in a hurry and somehow I guessed I had hoped to stumble across a familiar face here, but I was wrong about that too. I sure as hell didn't wanted to go home and didn't know any other places to drive to, so I was screwed and didn't even care, that I was sitting here, looking like a complete mess.

ERICS POV

Until now I had slept pretty well. I hadn't even remembered that it was able to sleep like that, without being awoken every hour, which was the case since I came back from Oklahoma.

Something was different, than all the times before. I tried to listen closely and there were definitely some knocks, or had I just imagined them? While sleeping we vampires weren't that attentive than normally, so I really wasn't sure and I also couldn't leave the dungeon, because if someone was leaving just one door open, I'd be literally on fire and not that fire, that all the useless whores were talking about.

I groaned annoyed because of the disturbance and slowly started to get up, which also wasn't that easy for vampires during the day.

Who the fuck had a key and even the nerve to come here during bright day time?

Yesterday was still somehow on my mind. Since I was back from Oklahoma nothing had ever been the same. Not that I had expected it after two hundred years , but I hadn't even been in my house, nor driven my car, or taken pleasure in any of the things, that I used to do back in the days at Fangtasia.

Pam was more than just worried about me, but going back to the house where she had lived with me for a time, driving that car with the empty passenger seat where she belonged and even being at the bar, where she not just once had visited me and looking for a certain girl in a white dress, was just something that always came to my mind, even haunted me in my sleep.

I of course would never admit that, to anybody, not even to Pamela, because it had taken quite some time until I had admitted it to myself, but since I was a good actor, I did what I had to do to just please everybody around me and act like the thousand year old vampire, that they all had know forever.

A lot more awake than almost five minutes ago and opened the thick metal door from inside my day chamber that I had built here all those years ago, if I ever wanted to stay and not leave Fangtasia for the day and since I was back it had proven itself quite useful.

Standing in my dungeon I started to listen again and there were footsteps in the hallway, I was so sure of it, as I was sure about myself being a vampire.

ANNAS POV

After quite some time I had finally started to breathe normally and my heart rate also seemed moderate again. I shook my head about myself, what the hell was I even thinking? I was just as insane as my mother and her colleagues at the fellowship of the sun. Coming here during the day, basically breaking in and then sitting here like a complete mess.

Perfect, Anna, just perfect I told myself, while slowly getting up and walking towards the back door again. I was just passing by the staircase that lead down to the dungeon, when I heard something and was turning around in an instant.

Nothing. I was sure that I had heard something, damn sure, until it hit me pretty hard…the dungeon! I sighed and nodded, before I started walking down the stairs. I didn't know why, but I had heard something and as sure as I was that I wanted nothing more than to just leave, my curiosity just had gotten the best of me and going home wasn't an option anymore.

As I was walking down the stairs, the old metal creaked at every step I took and my heart rate increased again, but regardless of everything that I was feeling I continued until I was standing in front of a big metal door and opened this as well, because surprisingly it wasn't locked.

It was dark and this was a complete understatement, because I wasn't even able to see my own hand in front of me. I tried to look harder, but since I was no vampire, it all seemed like a dark blurry and thick mass, where I couldn't identify, not even the masses of clothes, that should still be boxed up in the right corner of the big room.

ERICS POV

Standing in the dark I heard again footsteps in the hallway, until they stopped for a few seconds and then started to continue, but I had still no fucking idea who had such an intense dead wish, that he, or she would even consider coming here during the day.

Right now this certain someone was walking down the metal staircase which creaked during every step this person took and when the eighteenth creak banged in my ears, I hid in the shadows to first see, who the intruder was. Another two creaks and after these the metal door opened with another one…I had to let someone check this stuff out as soon as possible…until the person finally walked into the dungeon.

Whoever it was had definitely a heartbeat so it was a human and not even a challenge at all for me.

Discovering who it actually was I was very glad, that I had chosen to hide in the shadows, because my face must have looked priceless. I didn't even know if I was surprised, in shock or simply delighted by the presence of the so called intruder.

This girl…what was it about her, that just strikes me every time I see her. I wasn't sure at all, but I was much surer about, that I was wide awake now, maybe a bit bleeding, but nothing I wouldn't survive and so I decided to play a little game.

In a matter of seconds I flashed with vampire speed from one corner to the next and clearly heard her gasp, while her heartbeat increased and she was turning around in a circle.

ANNAS POV

Something was down here, or someone…it had just moved and now even I started a bit to panic. My heart was beating as fast as a speeding car…maybe a speeding corvette?, whilst my breath wasn't going regularly and a shiver was running through my whole body.

Great thoughts, Anna…you don't know what is down here with you in that dungeon, but you're thinking about corvettes…my conscience told me in an judging tone and I actually agreed with it, for once. So for what it is worth, if I had to die here and now I at least had agreed with my conscience once in my entire lifetime and that was actually a great accomplishment.

There it was again, another flash and I turned around in a circle, stumbling a bit back against the wall. "Who is there?!" I shouted, but of course, there was no response and now I felt something behind my back.

I gasped and turned around with complete and utter fear written across my face, but it was too dark to see anything, so I stumbled more into the room, until I ran against something.

"Ouch…" I flinched for a second, because this would definitely cause bruise and then turned around trying to see something and shouting again "That is not funny at all" while my heart was almost beating out of my chest.

ERICS POV

I was pretty amused by how she reacted, fearful, her heartbeat told me enough, but still not running, but instead shouting at her enemy. What a brave but stupid girl at the same time she was.

When she yelled that I wasn't funny I was pretty sure, that this was my time to reveal myself, so I speeded behind one of the metal beams that held this place together and started slowly walking towards her, still completely covered by the dark, that only I was able to see through.

"I personally do not consider it funny to break into my bar." I heard her gasp, because she probably had a good idea by now who was messing with her, but I didn't stop walking towards her and knew that my sole presence was intriguing and intimidating enough for quite anybody, Miss Anna obviously included, even though she didn't show it at all.

"Speechless?" I asked with a knowing grin on my face and now I was standing right in front of her, straightened up to my full height and my piercing eyes directly locked with hers.

ANNAS POV

I was just gasping and my heart was beating even faster now that I knew who was actually standing in front of me and almost scaring me to death.

"And almost scaring a lady to death isn't all gentleman like either, Mr. Northman" I replied playing along with his little game.

Now he was raising an eyebrow and coming even closer and suddenly déjà-vu like flashes of our encounter yesterday were clouding my mind.

I swallowed and held eye contact with him, even though his piercing blue eyes were a very well distraction, they were so blue that they even lightened up in the dark and looked more beautiful than ever.

Lost in my thoughts I hadn't paid attention to Eric who was now standing just a few centimeters away and still looking directly at me.

"You're a very foolish girl Miss Pryce. Just intruding my private space and waking me from my sleep" he continued and I hadn't come up with anything else then just "Maybe I truly am Mister Northman, before he was hovering over me and I was taking a few small steps back, until I was bending backwards over some boxes. I could feel his none existing breath on my skin, his eyes still locked with mine as he aspirated "So are we now gonna talk about why you're here?" in my ear and I almost lost my balance while shivers ran down my spine.

Just at the right moment he was straightening up again and catching my arm, before I probably would've hit my head pretty hard on all the boxes.

"Clumsy much?" he asked with a smirk and helped me get to my feet again, whilst I mumbled a "Thanks" and started to straighten my clothes a bit.

ERICS POV

Now that she knew who I was and standing on her two feet again I looked expectant at her, because I just had no fucking idea what she could've done at my bar during the day.

"Shouldn't you be asleep anyway?" she asked me with her bluntness again and I was raising an eyebrow. What the fuck?! That girl had a lot of nerve. Coming to my bar and now asking me if I shouldn't sleep, but somehow she impressed me and intrigued me with her spirit, even though most of her actions were pretty foolish and would've caused her the true death not just once, if she would've encountered any other vampire my age, like for example my still not divorced and unnerving vampire wife.

"I would be, if there wouldn't be a certain someone that decided to break into my bar and awaken me…" I replied dry and before I even got to speak any further, she was shutting me down.

"I didn't break into your bar. I used the key under the doormat" she simply said and I had to shake my head in disbelief. "Pamela…" I said more to myself, because nobody other, than her, could've came up with this stupid idea.

"Well in that case, you're actually very smart, but still breaking into a vampire bar, not smart at all."

Without even further discussing the matter I grabbed her arm and walked over to the staircase. "Is the back door locked?" She nodded. "Yes, I closed it." "Okay, that will do." And in an instant I had speeded upstairs into my office with her.

ANNAS POV

Woah…this was the first time that I ever did that and it felt awesome I thought to myself, while Eric had seated me on the sofa in his office and was standing behind his desk, both arms on it and bending forward, so that he could eye me better.

I actually was glad by now, that I sat for almost an hour in front of his door, because so I was pretty much dry again and not dripping on his sofa.

"So what brings you to my bar at this time of the day?" he asked me again and set down in his leather chair.

Now I was the one kneading my hands instead of my mother and simply staring at him, scanning every little detail and not speaking a single word.

"Anna?" he asked me again and I startled a bit.

"I actually don't know…" was my reply, even though I was still trying to convince myself that this was the one and only truth. As a thousand year old vampire Eric on the other hand had studied human kind pretty much down to every last bit and so he knew right away, that this wasn't the truth at all.

"Really? You don't know?" he asked me with a raised eyebrow and staring at me with his intense gaze. I sighed, it wasn't even a battle I could win, so what did I have to lose?

"I just had a bad day, was driving around and ended up here…" Now this was the truth and while speaking I had broken our eye contact and was now eyeing the wooden and somehow worn floorboards of Eric's office.

"A bad day. You humans seem to have those quite often." I nodded and hadn't even the slightest idea that every one of his days was just bad, or meaningless, at least in his opinion, but when I looked up he seemed lost in thoughts and I started to wonder what exactly he was thinking about.

"Maybe I should go now…" I suggested and didn't know myself where this had come from, but seeing him so in thoughts, so different, somehow private, made me feel uncomfortable.

"No" was his simple reply and I looked at him a bit confused, before he was standing up and walking towards me. "I wanna hear more" he said and in an instant he was looking again right through me with his piercing blue eyes and had now placed his leather chair not even a meter across the sofa that I was sitting on.

I shrugged. "Oh, it's just, that it is my birthday and my mother had actually the nerve to invite my father, or ask him for help as she would place it and was judging my decisions again…" I was rambling on and he was surprisingly calm, just watching me and listening to what I had to say and in my opinion it was nothing different, than he had probably heard from a million of people, women…whoever by now.

ERICS POV

Somehow her voice captured me. She was just an ordinary human, but still…I wanted to know why she had come here and even more why I had dreamt about her. I hadn't had a positive dream since I had to leave Shreveport over two hundred years ago, not even in the month I was back here and then this human walks into my bar, applies for a job and suddenly I dream about her? Something was up here, that had told me my thousand years of life experience, but I couldn't quite get to the bottom of it just yet.

"You're birthday?" I asked quite surprised and she nodded. Young girls like her were celebrating with their friends, getting drunk, probably making out with some dumb boys their age and having fun, but not she…that was another interesting thing about her, because in my time owning Fangtasia I had quite hired and fired hundreds of waitresses and all of them had almost acted the same way and again she was different than all of them.

Another thing that had caught my attention was her talking about some decisions. "Could these decisions have anything to do with your work here?" I asked her, not looking away for a second.

ANNAS POV

Was I really such an open book? How could he have known that? I nodded. "Yeah, my mother is like president of the anti vampire campaign." I looked down and tried to not have a break down again, but not for long, because a long finger was tilting my head up and I was again captured by Eris blue eyes.

"What exactly did she have to say?" he asked me and I wasn't sure if I should tell him.

"Hmm…" I was clearly weighing up if I should tell him the truth, or not, but since he seems to know when I was lying anyway, I could just tell him the truth without to rack my brain whilst coming up with a prober lie, that he'll see right through in an instant.

I put my serious expression on, before I said "But you have to swear not to kill her, alright?"

I heard a small chuckle and couldn't even believe my own eyes…Eric Northman was clearly amused.

"Who made you think, that I would?" he asked interested and I just repeated "Just swear" and he nodded "Well, then I rightfully swear not to harm your mother for whatever she had to say about your work at my bar. "Much better" I replied with a small grin myself.

Now he was staring expectant at me and there was no way around the truth.

"She is a member of this fucked up community called the fellowship of the sun and believes everything this delusional nut job Newlin says."

Eric growled through gritted teeth "Of course, Newlin." I nodded and continued "Yeah, you had quite the encounters with them yourself, so you basically knew the founder of this crazy cult…Steve Newlin."

For a second he looked stunned before he nodded "Yes and I just forgot that you're a walking archive of my life during the 2000s."

Now I was the one to chuckle. "If you wanna call me that, I'll be fine with it."

"And was it just the usual vampires are creatures of hell blabla or anything different than what they are repeating since more than two hundred years…" he continued his questions and I became serious again.

"That too…I have to listen to that shit since I was in kindergarten…" I explained and was still thinking about a way to break to him what my mother had told me.

"But well, she has looked into Fangtasia, since my grandma had told her, that I got a job at the local vampire bar and also in the owner."

Eric was raising an eyebrow again. "That must be me."

I nodded. "Yeah and she basically thinks you're a mass murderer, killing everybody and everything in your sight, eating people on a daily basis and should've been locked away for eternity."

Now I was nervous and he could easily sense that through my increased heartbeat. I wasn't even able to look at him, but when I did he didn't seem even the slightest bit bothered.

I wasn't sure what to say and after almost two minutes of silence and intense staring he asked a pretty easy question.

"And what do you think, Anna?" Now his eyes were on me, watching every move, every flinch and every breath and how he said my name, I wasn't almost able to think straight.

"I?" I asked with a little bit in disbelief. "I think that none of this is even the slightest bit true. Well yeah, you ate people and you killed people….you maybe still do it, but I doubt that you kill someone without a reason or drink from someone without their permission, so no…I don't think you're dangerous."

This was the complete and utter truth and I hadn't had a problem telling him said truth at all.

He knew when I was lying so it surprised me a bit when I witnessed a truly stunned expression on his face, maybe because he actually was aware that I just spoke what I was thinking and nothing more or less.

Now I was the one staring and watching ever change of his expression, every little move and wondering what he was actually thinking.

ERICS POV

That girl was just…I didn't even had a word to describe her and that after more than thousand years and speaking more than two dozen of languages fluently.

"You don't think that I'm dangerous?" I asked and was still completely taken at awe by her words and looking at her astonished.

"No" she replied said with an ease as if I would've asked her what her name is. "I'm even more intimated by Pam, than by you…" she continued and now I had to smirk.

"Pamela can be quite intimidating, yes…but she is also loyal and obedient. She'll come to like you."

I actually thought that these two would make quite the team, if Pam would overcome her disgust about humans, but it would maybe take some time, after the last human she had cared about had betrayed her completely.

"Hopefully…" was all she said a bit lost in thoughts and so I got up and went over to the fridge in my office. "Since it is your birthday after all and you haven't had any proper celebration…" I took out a bottle of champagne, it was quite an old one, a Diamant Bleu from 1909 and a bottle of the Royal Blood (Is it called that?) and walked over to my chair again, grabbing two glasses and sitting down.

I filled both of them, one with the blood and the other with the alcohol, before handing here the glass of champagne.

She had watched me the whole time and was now slowly shaking her head. "I actually don't drink" she explained herself and my eyes widened a bit. "Well I actually am not awake during the day…" and so she took a small sip, while I was watching her, not really getting any signs of her, if she liked it, or not.

ANNAS POV

It wasn't that bad that I had to admit, so I looked at him again and said "Well, it's quite okay" and he was actually pretty amused.

"Not bad?" he asked and I nodded.

"That's a 1909 Diamant Bleu."

I had no idea what that was, just that I was from 1909, so pretty old and expensive.

"Wow, that's old, but other than that I have no clue."

Now he was taking a sip of the blood and I was staring at him. Other than my own blood I had never seen any in real life and seeing Eric drinking blood, even though it was just synthetic just captured me completely.

Now I was the one looking at him, if I wanted to know how the drink tasted. Wasn't blood just blood? But well, what did I know.

He gave me the 'What?' look and I just asked, without even thinking about it "How do you like it? His eyebrows rose, but he didn't comment my question and just answered it instead. "It's good, better than the actual Tru Blood, but I still prefer blood straight from the vein…O positive if you're interested in all the details."

He was winking at me and continued drinking while my brain had again started to chatter. Did he know? No! Why the hell should he? I asked myself and guessed that it was just a coincidence that he preferred my blood type.

Could drinking be sexy? I had no idea, but Eric sipping this Royal Blood stuff was one of the hottest things I had ever witnessed in my life. I was biting my lip and not sure if I should even ask what just had came to my mind, but since my mouth was almost every time faster, than my brain it was out before I was able to take it back.

"Can I have one?" Within a split second his eyes were eyeing me in disbelief.

"What?" he asked in puzzled and I started to sink a bit more into the couch.

"I asked if I can try some of your Royal Blood?" I repeated my question and his eyes widened a bit more.

He again was just staring at me and I wished that I would've known what he was thinking, before he slowly got up and walked towards me.

ERICS POV

This girl never failed to impress me. Every time when I just thought I finally had figured her out, she surprised me again, but that question…never in my entire life had a human asked me something like that…I repeated never and human girls and women had asked me a lot of things throughout the years.

My gaze had never left her ocean blue orbs and she was following every move I made, just like I watched every small change in her posture, or expression.

I took the glass of champagne and swallowed it, before I filled the glass with some of the Royal Blood, watching her intensely.

ANNAS POV

He really did it and now I had to do my part and taste it. I slowly brought the glass to my lips and smelled it at first, but it didn't disgust me at all. Swallowing a last time I simply took a sip and tried to discover the unique taste that blood, no matter if straight from the vein, or synthetic, certainly had and was much more than surprised, when I actually liked it and still didn't feel any disgust.

During this time I had completely forgotten about Eric and just absorbed every little bit of smell and taste of the Royal Blood, before I looked up again and was amazed by his expression.

ERICS POV

I couldn't look away even for a second, while she smelled on the glass, before she sipped on it and it actually seemed like she wasn't disgusted at all and that was the least to say.

Her question had been enough to utterly impress me for the day, or the century?, if not a more than two centuries, but how she looked at me now, I didn't know what to say, nor what to do. I wasn't the kind of guy, that ever reacted speechless, but Anastasia Pryce seemed to have accomplished the unthinkable…at least in a very long time.

Pretty soon I had found my old self again and was smirking at her. "Liked it?" and she nodded, before she swallowed the whole liquid in her glass to emphasize her words.

ANNAS POV

I wasn't sure what the hell I had been exactly thinking when I had asked Eric for a taste, but was even more surprised, that I actually liked it and it seemed the he wasn't feeling any different about it., that I did myself.

"Speechless huh?" I shot back and he smirked even more and replied "Just impressed."

A knock on the door suddenly brought us both back to reality and within a few second Pam was entering the room. Firs eyeing Eric and later me she just rolled her eyes and looked back at Eric.

"What is she doing here?" Pamela asked her maker and in an instant he changed completely.

"Discussing some urgent matters. Next time don't disturb me, or enter without my permission!" His words were harsh and he clearly looked at her with annoyance.

"With champagne…and Royal Blood?" she asked while eying the two bottles.

"Yes, Pamela…" he only said and the other vampire didn't seem delighted at all.

"Let me finish and then we can talk and with those words the woman was out the door again.

"I'm very sorry, Anna, but business is calling…" he apologized for Pams entry and I shook my head.

"It's still your bar, remember? So nothing you have to apologize for." I put a small smile on my face.

"Then I see you tomorrow at work" he asked getting up and reaching for my hand.

I nodded. "Yes, tomorrow at 7:30."

I took his hand and got onto my feet, before he accompanied me to the door of his office.

"Have a successful work night, Mr. Northman" were my last words, before stepping out into the now busy hallway. "Have a good night yourself Miss Pryce and a birthday to remember." He winked at me one last time, before I started walking down the hallway towards the backdoor and he in the other direction towards the entrance into the bar.

Soon I found myself out in the parking lot again, surprised that it was dark now and not even knowing how late it actually was, but since Pam had arrived about ten minutes ago, it was just a logical conclusion that the darkness of the night had taken over our town by now.

Just a few minutes later I sat in my car and was driving home with a way better mood than I had left and another positive fact, it had stopped raining during my time at Fangtasia, so the night sky was clear and it should be an easy ride home.

**Liked it? If so be nice and please review.**

**Next: Annas first day working at Fangtasia. There will be blood and I'm not talking about the bottled one. ;)**


	5. Chapter 5 -Tonights gonna change my life

**Thanks again for all the reviews, follows and favorites, I really appreciate all of these, so that you're letting me know, that you like my story.**

First of all I'll answer a few reviews again.

** lundyred:** I sent you a private message after I've read your review, because I didn't want you to have to wait until the next chapter, but in case you didn't see the message, I'll tell you about it so that you can read it now.

And for everybody wondering the same thing, Anna is Sookie, but I like to call the blonde waitress from Bon Temps the 'Real Sookie' and Anna just Anna, because she is Sookie, but not exactly THIS Sookie, which will appear later in the story. A small hint, you can probably call her Anookie, or Sookanna. Make of it whatever you want. :P

** KYSun:** Sadly I have to disappoint you, but maybe you change your mind about the blood after the chapter. Let's just say good as well as bad blood will be spilled. ;)

** Naliee:** No, she is not, but since she was once fae (in her past life, like many here figured out) she kinda has some sort of abilities left, like her good intuition and such things (the ones she referred herself to as her personal superpower).

**suzyq59:** I definitely will. Her father will make an appearance in future chapters, but not so soon, because a lot of things have to happen before a certain thing will happen and her parents will get involved in this, so that her mum will call her dad again.

**And now I present you chapter 5 or Annas first day at Fangtasia.**

ANNAS POV

When I got home that night I was in a surprisingly good mood given all that had happened before I had left for, well a drive to nowhere which had turned out to be Fangtasia, or to specify it a very tall and very good looking vampire.

I actually was glad, that my mum's car was nowhere to be seen in the parking lot in front of our hours. We owned a big garage, but well, she always parked in front of our house anyway.

My grandmother was still awake, at least I guessed so, because she was never one to go to bed early and at around 9 o'clock in the evening sleep wasn't even a term that she wanted to consider.

After parking my car in the space where normally my mother's would be parked I entered the house and tried to be as silent as possible, but even though her age my grandmother seemed to have the best ears in the whole Shreveport area.

"Who's there?" she asked and now I couldn't just run upstairs and pretend to not exist, so I sighed and did the only thing that was left to do, I entered the kitchen and looked at her a bit exhausted from the whole day.

"Me…" I said and from one moment to the next her face light up a bit and a small smile spread across her lips.

"Anna…I was worried sick about you…" were her words and I sighed again…why exactly had my family to be so damn overprotective?

"I'm fine…" I replied and sat down at the kitchen table. I had no intentions to stay long, but if only for a moment I simply had to talk to her.

After a few minutes just sitting there, an uncomfortable silence hung in the room and so I was about to stand up and tell her that I was very tired and wanted to go to bed, as she finally spoke another few words, but these were enough to let my mood sink down a hundred levels deeper…again.

"Have you considered all the information and what to do about your new job?" she asked me and I couldn't believe it.

Yes, grandma I have, I actually spent the last hours with said guy alone in his bar far away from any other human beings, or civilization at all, have almost made out with him and drank blood…so yeah…I definitely have considered it.

Oh how I wished that I could tell her that, but I did hold my grandmother dear so the last thing I wanted to cause was her next heart attack.

"No…" was my simple answer and in my opinion there was nothing left to say. I finally stood up, gave her a last glance and left the kitchen to go upstairs to my room. I really hadn't had even any intentions to talk to either of my family members and as long as my grandmother believed my mother more than me there was nothing we had to talk about.

I was very well aware of the fact that she just wanted to protect me, but not seeing my mother's insanity and how she always talked disrespectful about my father, not that he didn't deserve it, but calling him immediately when the first vampire emergency occurred, that wasn't even possible, at least not in my opinion.

After half an hour that I spent in the bathroom and changing my clothes I was back in my room and somehow my mood didn't change a bit and I had no idea what to do about it. Well I had one but since it wasn't an option I just sat down at the window bench and stared into the darkness of the night.

Maybe it was a bit contradictorily but as much as I hated the dark and cold days during winter and enjoyed the sun in summer I loved the night even more. I've always been a night person if you can call it that, because being up at night had always made me calm and enjoy my life even more. Not just once people had called me a vampire, of course for fun, but there were days when I went to bed when it was still dark and woke up when it was dark again, especially in winter, so yeah…I was kinda a human vampire and I always thought, at least to some extent that it was funny.

I had to yawn and some lights in front of our hours brought me back to reality and I wasn't happy about it at all. My mum was home. Great. She and my grandma were about to have a discussion about what I said earlier to her, I just knew it, like I always did and so I got up and decided to go to bed, but since I wasn't all that tired just yet I grabbed my music player and a certain book that I had not read in quite some time.

Dead in the family I read the title of the book out loud and then started with the first page.

A knock on my door disturbed me and a growled a little bit annoyed "Yes?!" and of course it was my mum.

"Anna, we need to talk" she said and I couldn't believe it, because I really had no intentions at all to discuss this problem, her problem, again.

"I can't, I'm studying right now" I replied and it was partially true. Since I couldn't rely on my certain special mood fix right now I just had to go with Dead in the family and update my knowledge about a specific blonde and tall vampire a bit. I mean I was a walking archive of Eric Northmans life after all, like he called me early this evening and since he was my boss this was a very important study session right now.

Somewhere around midnight I had finally fallen asleep at least with a smile on my face, because I had almost forgotten how much I loved this novel even though something disturbed me. I was very well aware of the fact, that every single detail in this books was a hundred percent true, so also the fact, that Eric Northman has loved Sookie Stackhouse, one woman in about thousand years.

I liked Eric. I did. I always have, but was never sure if this story was really based on facts, but it seemed so and I couldn't help it, but at the same time I didn't feel threatened at all by what I just read.

I mean I should feel like this, right? Normal people do this? Tracy is jealous of every girl the guy she likes even looks at and I doubt that said guys are completely and utterly in love with the girls they look at once, or twice.

This was odd, very odd and disturbing. I was a bit freaking out about this fact and what freaked me even more out was that I had my day off so I couldn't talk to Tracy at all. Not that I would tell her anything but hypothetically spoken I could ask her for some advice, if I would see her today.

"Damn it" I mumbled and let myself fall back into bed because I had no intentions of getting up.

Before going to bed yesterday I had been so excited for today and now I was a complete mess. Why did I feel like I was exactly in her situation? Of course, minus Bill, because I've never met the guy and why did I feel so much like her and that I maybe was just a second class Sookie Stackhouse fix for Eric and that this was the only thing why he even seemed to care the tiniest bit about me?

Somehow I managed to get out of bed twenty minutes later and to make myself look presentable for a day at home.

Down at breakfast I didn't meet my grandmother, or anybody for the matter of fact, because like I said before I had the day off and every time this happens I sleep for like ten hours and so nobody was still at home, but today I was actually glad about this circumstances.

Normally I didn't like to wake up to an empty house, but after yesterday and all the bad thoughts I was having it was probably better anyway.

After breakfast I tried to calm my nerves a bit while watching TV until I heard the doorbell ring. A quick glance at the big watch in the living room told me that it was probably the mail.

Within a few seconds and a fast look in the mirror I had made my way over to the door and was pretty surprised to see not the mailman on the other side of the door.

"Yes?" I asked with a curious voice, because I simply had no idea who this man was nor what he could want from me, but well maybe it was another crazy fellowship guy who wanted to kidnap me because he got the news that I was working for Eric Northman. Who knew? These folks were crazy as fuck.

"Anastasia Pryce?" the middle aged man asked and I nodded.

"Yes, that's me" I replied still a little bit anxious because of the fact that I did not know who he was or what he wanted from me.

"I have a delivery for you." It had me taken until now to realize that he was holding a giant white box with a red ribbon in his hands.

My brain began to scatter. Did I order something? Possibly, but it was always brought by the mailman.

"Thank you" I simply said and he gave me a quick smile before turning around.

Halfway down our stairs he stopped and looked at me again. "I now see why he is speaking so highly of you…" the man side and winked at me, before continuing his way and leaving me totally perplex in the doorway.

What exactly was that? I was not sure at all but now I had a pretty good idea who had sent this man…the exact same person that was freaking me out this morning and I tried to forget about for the moment.

I went inside, of course with the big box and put it on the giant wooden table in our dining room.

I slowly untied the red bow, before I cautiously hovered the upper shell off the box and was looking at a perfectly picked out ensemble of clothes which consisted of a red dress with small straps, a built in corset and a bit of a wider skirt, a matching red purse, red pumps and a silver necklace with a big red pendant which seemed pretty vintage.

I gasped. He couldn't be serious about that, right? Looking at the tags it said Pretty Passion and I knew the brand very well. It was exactly the brand that was even too expensive for my family. Not that we wouldn't be able to shop there, but one piece from this brand was like 100 pieces at another store…so my decision was most of the time pretty obvious.

Still staring at the clothes and completely in awe I hadn't even discovered the white envelope with my name on it yet. The handwriting was beautiful but definitely male and looked a bit like from another century so now I was pretty sure, he had not sent any of his assistants to pick the things out.

I slowly opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.

Anastasia,

I'm hoping yesterday evening was as pleasant for you as it was for me. I'm really looking forward to your first night working so I was thinking to present my favorite new employee with a small gift.

Looking forward to tonight.

Sincerely Eric Northman

PS: I'll be watching you…closely.

I was reading the letter over and over again and only the sharp voice of my mother brought me back to reality. I startled and turned around quickly.

"Anna, what is this?" she asked and I didn't know what to say.

"Uhm…"

"Anna?!"

Within seconds she was standing beside me and looking at the box on the table behind me.

She eyed the dress like an investigator and looked even more curious and demanding at me.

"Just something for work tonight…" was my pretty emotionless answer, because if I was a smart girl I wouldn't get all overemotional again.

"That is for work?" she asked holding the dress in her hands and I nodded. "Yes, they have a really different dress code there…"

My mother shook her head and started to walk out of the room, clearly disappointed in me.

"If you get eaten, raped, or killed tonight I've warned you…" she said while leaving for the kitchen.

Thanks mum, that's exactly what your daughter wanted to hear at her first day I replied in my head and packed the things away in the box, before heading up into my room…maybe she was coming back to lecture me again, who knew?

After receiving this gift I was even more determined to look my absolute best tonight. Not that this wasn't my goal all the time, but special occasions were asking for special treatment and this gift just deserved me looking perfectly from head to toe.

After I had spent the afternoon eating a snack, watching a bit more of TV, browsing the internet and reading a bit I started to get ready for tonight.

One and a half hour later I had showered, as well as washed my hair and was pretty pleased with my appearance. I had put my hair up and wrapped a red band with some red and sparkling stones around it. My face looked clear with just the usual light make-up, a little bit of mascara and a red lipstick that I usually didn't wear, but was just made for this dress. My nails were as well painted in the same shade of red and Eric's dress fitted like a second skin and now I knew for a fact that he had watched me closely before and not just once, because the dress just highlighted every part of my body that I liked about myself.

The necklace, the shoes and the purse fitted as well and spinning around in front of my mirror I somehow had the feeling that a certain vampire would be pretty mind blown after tonight.

Maybe it was a bit over the top. I mean the heels were pretty high, the dress very short and the corset pushing my boobs almost up to my chin, but hey…I was going to a vampire bar and not to church and after finally coming to terms that I maybe liked a certain vampire I could use anything that I could get. It was no secret that I had his attention…for now…but I was very well aware of how vampires were ticking, so now I had to keep it.

I started walking down the stairs and since I had no intentions to be late and also none of talking to my family I tried to be out the door before they even could hear the sound of my heels, but well…my mother was working fast, like always.

"Anna." Now I had to turn around and her look spoke volumes.

"Going to work?" she asked me and I nodded. "Exactly."

"Your childish obsession with vampires was always bothering me, but watching this stupid shows and reading this trashy novels never did any harm, so why should I have cared, right?" she started the conversation and I knew that there was more to come.

"But looking at you now, working at this club…you're looking like a whore, nothing more, so maybe you should think about what your future should look like…"

My mouth was hanging open and I couldn't even believe her words.

"Whatever…" were the only words I was able to speak, before turning around and walking out the door.

I just…I couldn't even really come to terms with what had just happened. I was feeling damn good about myself and had been so anxious to finally go to work today and now my mother had to ruin this for me…again?!

Calling me a whore, stating that my love for vampires was childish and dumb and also telling me as a fact that she knows what I want for my future and what I don't? Who did she even think she was? I knew very well what I wanted my future to be like. Maybe I hadn't been sure about it a few weeks, or a few days ago but now I simply saw crystal clear and that after a very long time, actually for the first time in my entire life.

Don't think about it, Anna, just don't I told myself over and over while speeding down the highway and blasting my favorite songs again. I knew what I wanted and it had nothing…really nothing to do with what my mother wanted for me.

Well even I myself was calling me crazy, or I would've called myself crazy, when someone had told me all of the things I was thinking and experience right now, but being in the situation and feeling everything I do I was so sure. I maybe did not have any idea where it did come from but this was no coincidence, this was something different and after seeing Eric with so many other people at the bar, even Pam and of course me I just knew that it wasn't any different for him than for me.

Crazy or not crazy, whatever was going on was real and since I believed in destiny I would just follow my intuition, trust my instincts and everything else would probably work out somehow.

PAMS POV

In about an hour Fangtasia would open so I had plenty of things to do before this. Eric wasn't here yet and I was really wondering where he had spent the day, because he wasn't in his day chamber down in the dungeon.

Where could he have gone? I doubted that he stayed at his old house, because he hadn't used it since he came back, as well as his Corvette and anything else that was related to Sookie Stackhouse.

I had been patient with him, really patient, but he just wasn't the same, not enjoying his newfound freedom at all, or anything for the record.

Every little thing that the old Eric has liked seemed just of no use or interest to the vampire that I had to call my maker.

I had worked my ass of here for the last two hundred years and if there had been any opportunity I would've saved him, of course, but there simply was no way out of this contract, so I just did what Eric would've wanted me to do, to take care of everything while he was gone.

Now he was back, but not doing anything at all. Even him sitting on the throne was just painful to watch, because I was very well aware of the fact, that he was just staring in the same direction all night, not even looking at the people around him, or getting involved with them.

ERICS POV

For the first time in over two hundred years I had slept in my own bed and I actually had slept okay.

Now I was on the way to Fangtasia, because I was late already and even though I was the owner Pam would probably be up my ass again for not caring what was not true.

Speeding down the road in my red Corvette I reached the bar in no time and it had been an enjoyable ride to work.

Walking through the back entry I was heading straight for my office where I found Pamela sitting on my desk and doing some work.

"Good evening, Pamela" I greeted her and she immediately looked up at me with a confused expression on her face.

"Eric. Where were you?" she asked, her voice a bit concerned.

"Home" I simply replied and she seemed pretty disturbed tonight, because Pamela didn't seem to understand a thing.

"Where?" she asked again and I sat down on the other chair.

"At home, Pamela" I answered her again, this time a bit more annoyed.

"You were at home, Eric? Your home?" were her words, before she had gotten up from the chair and was standing beside me completely confused and her voice higher than usual.

I had to growl, what the fuck was wrong with her?

Standing up myself I scanned her and tried to find out what was going on, but nothing about my progeny seemed off.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked her drily and now my good mood started to fade a bit.

"Eric if I understand you correctly you were at your old house and slept there in your day chamber and since I doubt that I started getting hearing problems I heard your Corvette out there…"

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and waited what she was about to say, but simply nothing followed this words.

I folded my hands and crossed my legs. "Well that is also correct Pam. Do you have any problem with that?" I asked. Of course I didn't give a fuck if she had something against it, but still, it was interesting to play this game with her.

"No, Eric, of course not. I'm just surprised…"

I nodded. "Well Pamela, if there is nothing else I'd like to get to work…"

She nodded herself. "Of course…" and left the room, leaving me alone with a slightly better mood, than just a few seconds ago.

PAMS POV

I still had no fucking clue what was going on when I was walking towards the big bar room and starting to open up Fangtasia for the night.

Something was seriously wrong with Eric, or at least off, because he had been at home and was driving his car again. He had seemed a bit like the Eric I had known about two hundred years ago.

I had no idea what had happened, nor why he was acting like this again but I was very determined to get to the bottom of this, but for now I had to get to my place at the door, because I could hear the first customers from afar.

ANNAS POV

Half an hour later I arrived at Fangtasia and got quickly out of my car. Wow, this was my first day, it was finally time.

As much excited as nervous I walked in my heels towards the back door I was now pretty familiar with and entered the building.

Just like I have lived here forever I walked towards the door with the tag Eric's office and knocked three times.

"Yes" his voice clung in my ears and a small smile spread across my face.

My heartbeat was fast and I tried to stay calm before I opened the door and walked into his office.

While entering I looked directly at him, watching every move and change closely. He was clearly staring at me and soaking every centimeter of my appearance in, so it seemed that my plan had worked and I looked as I had expected me to.

"Eric" I greeted him with a slightly amused grin and finally his eyes had found mine again.

"Anna" he replied and stood up, walking towards me, still staring.

A small chuckle came across my lips and he raised an eyebrow.

"What is so funny Miss Pryce?"

Now he was standing not even half a meter away from me.

"Nothing…" I said and tried to navigate our conversation into a different direction.

"Thank you very much for the outfit…" I smiled, because I was still really thankful and couldn't believe to own such expensive pieces.

"Of course…" were his words and he brushed it off as if it was just a box of chocolate.

Eric scanned me again and after almost a minute added with a smirk "You look just like I have imagined, actually even better, way better."

His staring gaze made me nervous, while his voice made me shiver and right now I had no intentions to even guess what he was just thinking, his look spoke more than just volumes.

ERICS POV

The knocking on my door had actually disturbed me but the fast steady heartbeat and her flowery perfume had given her away since the beginning, so I was actually pretty delighted by the disturbance.

I was curious to find out what she was thinking about my gift and if she was looking as good in the clothes as I had pictured her and now I was about to find out.

She opened the door and I was staring with anticipation into said direction, when she entered and I was just blown away. I would've never told that anybody, because after more than thousand years on this planet I clearly had seen it all, but it seemed like my mind hadn't even been close to what this dress would do to her in reality. I couldn't do anything other but stare and scan every single centimeter of her body and face.

After our little conversation there was another knock on my door and I growled. Who the fuck was disturbing me? It seemed like every single time I was talking to her somebody had the undying nerve to annoy me and probably die.

"Yes?!" I asked and tried to not lose control.

Sandy, another girl working for me was walking through the door and I was just looking annoyed towards her.

"Mr. Northman, Miss DeBeaufort requests you in the main room at your throne…" she said and I could see her stare at Anna as well as me.

"We should get to work, shouldn't we? I also still have to get dressed." Anna asked now and I nodded, completely forgetting that the redhead was even in the same room with us.

"Yes, we should…" I answered and one last look at her dress let me shake my head.

"No" I simply replied and saw confusion arise on her face.

"I would be very pleased if you wear these clothes tonight."

She gasped and was clearly surprised, but a small smile appeared on her face and with a smirk she responded "If you say so, Mr. Northman I of course will do that tonight."

An annoyed snort let me realize that Sandy was still standing in the door and she was clearly not delighted by my conversation with Anna.

"Why the fuck can this bitch wear haut couture, while we have to wear that shit?!" she snapped at me and I rose an eye brow. Was this whore really talking to me like this? I wasn't a patience man, vampire in general, but this girl had just gone too far.

Within seconds I was standing right in front of her, staring at her with a deadly look while my voice was cold as ice. "If you ever do that again you won't just lose your job, are we clear?!"

She was shaking and nodded.

"Now get the fuck out of my office!" I now snapped at her and she ran as fast as she was able in her high heels towards the door to the main room.

ANNAS POV

I wasn't feeling as comfortable as before, because I actually had been happy to be able to wear this fantastic clothes for a longer time, but on the other hand, if the other girls would snap like that I wouldn't make any friends, just enemies and I didn't wanted that either.

"Eric?" I asked in a soft voice and he immediately turned around, looking at me completely different than at that other girl.

"I apologize for the behavior of that trashy woman, I'm sorry you had to witness that" he said and my eyes were wide. Since when did Eric Northman ever apologize to anybody?

"It's fine, I'm just thinking I should change after all…" I explained myself, was looking down and tried to walk as fast out the door as possible, but of course…damn vampire reflexes and so he had grabbed my arm before I had even been halfway out the door.

I turned around and sighed. "Eric…" I started and wasn't really sure what I wanted to say, while he was looking down on me, even though my damn high pumps and asking me again. "I would really like to see you wear the clothes I had picked out for you tonight…"

I nodded and finally gave in. "Okay, but if any of your waitresses tries to kill me tonight, it's on you. "

I smirked a bit.

"If any of my…waitresses…tries to kill you tonight they will be sorry that they've been ever born…" He seemed damn serious and I understood why my mother and the fellowship were so afraid of him, because getting on the wrong side of Eric Northman wasn't a wise decision and so I was even happier about the fact that I seemed to be not only on the good but on the very good side of him.

"Shall we?" he asked now and before I couldn't even answer he had grabbed my arm again and we were walking towards the door to the main room.

Just before opening said door he did let go of me and even though I was a bit sad about this fact, I had to go to work now and Eric as well.

Making my way through the crowd I watched him with one eye getting up to the throne and sitting down on it. If I did see correctly he was also still watching me and so I turned around with a last glance and was surprised to find Pam at the bar…working of course.

"Pam?" I asked surprised and she didn't seem to share this excitement, because her expression looked bored and her voice sounded just as annoyed as most of the time when she was talking with me.

"Thanks to you we have no barkeeper so don't be surprised to find me here…" were here words before she put a tray full of beverages in my hands, alcoholic ones, as well as more bloody ones.

Cautious but still with grace I walked through the room and delivered all the drinks while taking new orders at the same time and it went surprisingly well, it seemed that I had a hidden talent at waitressing, who would've thought that?

I always wanted to try waitressing as a job when I was in college ever since I had read a certain special book series and now it seemed that I was destined for this job anyway.

Many of my customers were human, but I also interacted with other vampires that night, but none of them were offending me, at least not too much, or any different, than some human guys.

I looked different from all the other waitresses here, so of course there eyes and stares were on me and I also had seen Pam's look but I guess she was probably thinking that Eric had authorized me wearing the dress, she after all knew him at least for a couple of hundred years.

Every once in a while my gaze wandered up to Eric's throne and every single time it felt that his eyes were directly on me and of course every single time I was completely right and our eyes met for a short time, before I had to concentrate on my work again.

I somehow tried to look extra good while doing my job, not for all the customers and the tips, I got enough of them already and couldn't care less about these meaningless guys, but I wanted to do it for Eric and it seemed to work.

After three hours I got fifteen minutes off, drank a bit of water and then went back into the bar room. I couldn't risk talking to Eric, because I knew how important he was for the bar and their income, but I felt him staring on me…again.

I liked it, of course I did, but it also made me nervous and at times pretty uncomfortable and it also seemed like he just pretended to do whatever he had to do and was watching me the whole night.

The music was blasting, the people letting loose, dancing around and drinking more than they probably should and accidently my gaze stopped too long at a pole and a lot of girls in too short skirts and too revealing tops were standing around it.

Curious as I was I watched them dancing and became an idea. Not, that I had ever taken dancing lessons, nor was I a big dancer, but sometimes it seemed to be an advantage to have a stripper for a best friend and this sometimes seemed to have come tonight.

I never knew why women or girls dressed like they did. I wouldn't even be able to move in this tiny stuff, but well before I even knew what I was doing I was standing beside them and saying "Excuse me, can I be next?"

The group of giggling and dancing girls stopped immediately, looking at me and scanning me from head to toe. One shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, show us what you've got" and in two seconds I was standing on the small plateau.

One last glance at Eric and the guy was still watching me. Good what have I done? I was thinking, but if I would back out of this now…no…this was not an option.

Just be Tracy, for once in your life I told myself and started dancing like she had showed me a couple of times. I had to thank her for annoying me with that stuff for years tomorrow, or whenever I would see her again…definitely.

I just somehow had turned off my brain and followed my instincts…right, like I said before…follow your intuition and your instincts, the rest will somehow work out, right?

After a few seconds and moves at the beginning I actually felt really comfortable and secure in what I was doing. My voluptuous curves had always brought me more attention than I actually wanted, but me plus that dress, well…that was definitely another level and so I didn't even have to do much to have all looks on me, even though I didn't care a bit about them.

When the song was over the people around me applauded and with a grin and curtsey I walked off the stage, looked back at Eric and winked at him, before returning to Pam, the bar and my work.

That had actually gone pretty well, I was surprised by myself, but Eric's face had just been priceless. He may have tried to hide it, but I had seen right through him. So much for making me feel uncomfortable, Mr. Northman I thought to myself and wrote down a few new orders while bringing the right drinks to said tables.

ERICS POV

Tonight wasn't so much different from all the other nights, but my mood had been decent almost the entire evening. Pam would be pleased with me and my work today, not that I cared, but still, one annoyance less in my undead life.

I hadn't really looked at the people, nor interacted much with them, but somehow it seemed like my mood affected my appearance and watching Anna at work just seemed to have said effect on me.

I couldn't get enough of her in that dress that I had personally picked out and knew that I had made the right decision to let her work in that outfit. Pamela would lecture me later, but like I said a thousand times before…I did not give a damn fuck.

I had actually thought that this image of perfection couldn't get any better, but like Miss Pryce always did, she surprised me again. This girl in that dress dancing like this…holy hell, why had she not applied as a dancer?

I wasn't quite sure, but actually glad that she didn't because all of these guys staring at her like this was nothing that I could stomach night after night, even though I was very well aware of where she was looking the whole time…directly at me.

ANNAS POV

I was just about to serve a few more Tru Bloods to some customers when I felt something…someone behind me. I quickly turned around and looked into the face of a guy with exposed fangs…so he was a vampire.

I didn't know what he wanted so I just asked "Can I do something for you, Sir?" maybe he wanted to order something, or I had some orders mixed up, who knew, right?

He grinned and I stepped back, because suddenly I was feeling uncomfortable. A look at the throne made me even more anxious, because Eric was not there…where was he?

"Yeah, you can do something for me…" he replied, taking a step towards me, still grinning.

The people around us didn't seem to care and within seconds I felt the hard wooden wall of a small and empty bar digging into my back, whilst my tray with all the orders had crashed onto the floor meters behind us.

"I saw you before, sweetie…" he whispered into my ear and I stiffened immediately, trying to get him off me, but he was covering my mouth with his hand and so every scream would be nipped in the bud anyway.

Before I realized what he even wanted I felt a painful sting and screamed, trying to kick him off me with my legs, while he was drinking from me uncontrollably, but he was too strong and his hand still covered my mouth.

I still tried to scream and somehow hurt him, but it was hopeless and what was even worse was the fact that my mum had told me so.

The pain was excruciating and my mind got blurry, as suddenly the guy was ripped off of me and I was covered in blood. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream and then I blacked out and didn't even feel how my body hit the floor.

ERICS POV

I had just been in my office for about five damn minutes, to get Pam a certain contract, when I smelled her. Even from miles ago I would know that it was her, but what disturbed me the most was, that she wasn't around me, or anywhere near me, so how was I able to smell her? Unless…

Letting the papers in my hand crash to the floor I speeded into the main room, following my animal instincts and her smell. There was blood. I also would be able to smell blood from a mile and within seconds I was spotting a horrific scene.

I did not care who he was, nor where he came from, or if I should do what I did, but I ripped this asshole of a vampire apart.

She was covered in blood, as well her own, as the vampires and I did not look any different, whilst it was spraying over the whole small bar area and covering everything in its reach making the disastrous picture look even more horrifying.

Before doing anything else I fell to my knees and bit my wrist, Pam now beside me and holding her mouth open, so that I was able to get my blood into her system.

I was mad, not only mad, but furious and wanted to break limbs, throw tables across the room and go on a killing spree. I had just left for five fucking minutes and this bastard had taken the opportunity…it was my fault. I was the one who wanted her to wear this outfit after all.

When we had gotten enough blood into her system I gave Pam a look and said "Pamela, you take care of this mess" and got up with Anna in my arms, shooting deadly looks at all the vampires surrounding us, some had even their fangs exposed and eyed here as if she was their next dinner.

"If I witness anybody ever just looking at her the wrong way, or talking at her the wrong way, he or she will face the same fate as this vampire, only more painful and I will certainly take my pleasure in doing so."

I was still in a rage and whilst my voice was ice cold and my face seemed like stone I growled these words towards them, before I exposed me fangs, looking even more dangerous, than usually.

" .Mine" I spit at them in a dangerously low voice, before I vanished in vampire speed to my office.

ANNAS POV

I was so tired and my head hurt badly. I didn't know where I was nor what happened, but I felt like I was run over by a car…maybe I actually was run over by a car?

I started to blink a few times and tried to open my eyes.

The sudden amount of light made my head hurt even more and I immediately closed them again moaning in pain, but like always my curiosity got the best of me and so I tried again and opened my eyes just as much as I needed to see where I actually was.

I knew that room…that office…it was Eric's and suddenly all the bad memories about what had happened earlier came rushing back and making me sick.

I was probably lying down on the couch and before I could even blink a wastepaper basket was in my sight and I had to throw up a few times, whilst I was chocking and shaking.

"Better?" a too familiar voice asked me and I finally dared to look up to Eric and nodded slowly.

"Well, at least I'm not dead…" I said and tried to joke a bit, but I had to hiss in pain, because the slight laughter did hurt like hell. "Even though I feel like it…" I added probably not hearable for human ears, but this didn't apply to vampires.

Two seconds later he was handing me a glass of water and I mumbled a "Thank you" before drinking slowly a few sips.

Now I was actually feeling at least a bit better and was about to get up from the sofa, clenching my teeth, as he helped me to sit down.

My head was still dizzy and my view a bit blurry, but I was at least sitting instead of lying, so that much for progress.

It had me taken until now to realize that Eric's black leather chair was standing not even a meter away from the couch and he was also sitting down, but eyeing me attentively.

"Do you remember what happened?" he now asked with a concerned look and I nodded.

"Did you kill him?" I didn't know why I asked him, but I figured so and he nodded as well.

"Yes I did and nobody shall ever harm you again." I chuckled a bit. "That's not for you to decide anyway. There are always bad people and bad vampires out there."

Eric's face turned to stone. "I made myself pretty clear and anybody who had heard of me will not dare to even look at you the wrong way, trust me."

Now I had to look at him with wide eyes, not because I didn't understand, or couldn't believe him, but he had taken me completely by surprise, after all I was just a human waitress at his bar that he had known for a few days.

"Seems like you have quite the reputation, Mr. Northman, haven't you?!" said jokingly and tried to wink at me to lighten the mood a bit and I at least got him to raise his eyebrow a bit.

"If you say so, Miss Pryce…"

I had just accidently looked down on me, because I wanted at least to know the damage that this incident had done to my dress, when I spotted black instead of bright red. Confused I tried to make sense of it and spotted a black Fangtasia sweatpants and a black Fangtasia T-shirt.

I swallowed hard. "Eric, where is my dress?" I asked.

"Well, I'm not really educated in terms of clothing, but I figured that it is too damaged by all this blood" he explained and when he saw the look on my face he added with a smirk "I'll buy you a new one, if you want."

I couldn't reply anything I was still in a bit of a shock.

"How…" I started and he looked at me again waiting for what I was about to say.

"This clothes…" Now he seemed to know what I was trying to say and was getting up from his chair.

"Before you're unleashing hell on earth on me, I just figured that you wouldn't wanna wake up in clothes soaking with blood of your attacker, so I grabbed some from downstairs."

With a gasp I jumped from the sofa and hissed in pain. Damn it, that really did hurt and looking more clearly at myself. I glared at him.

"You did not just…" I started and couldn't believe it. This guy wasn't serious, right?

"Why the fuck didn't you ask, Pam?" I snapped at him and Eric sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Well, because first of all she wouldn't wanna touch a human with a pair of nippers and second I was sure as hell not letting another vampire close to you, not even my own progeny."

I sighed and sat down on the couch again, before I gave him an apologetic look.

"Well, that was very considerate of you, Thank you, but I hope you didn't even peak for a second…" I gave him a glaring look and he just replied "Well, I can't assure you in terms of one second, but I can in case of more than one…" and was smirking at me…like he always did.

At least I had decided to wear matching underwear to my dress, but well I seemed to have pretty interesting thoughts for a girl that was almost killed tonight.

Looking back at Eric he seemed much more serious now and was sitting down on the chair again.

"Anna, we have to talk…" he started the conversation and I knew that this wasn't good at all.

ERICS POV

I knew it was my fault and now she had drunk my blood and to deal with all the affects that came with it.

For a few seconds I just stared at her, being glad that she was still alive, but I had to face the facts and start this uncomfortable conversation.

"First of all I wanna apologize for every wanting you to wear this clothes tonight" I started the conversation and just the expression on her face told me that she was about to interrupt me, which I couldn't let happen so I immediately continued.

"I knew my bar for over two hundred years as well as my customers, so I should've been aware of the effects and the possibly outcome. I as well should never have you let out of my sight tonight, but I also did another thing I'm deeply sorry for, because it truly was not my intention to almost get you killed, or bring any harm to you."

"But you didn't…it's not your fault. It's as much yours as it is mine…" she responded a bit enraged.

I sighed, she was just so stubborn that even I had no chance against her and usually nobody ever questioned what I said…at least without losing their heard…and probably some limbs.

After everything that had happened that evening as well to her as to me I was just not in the mood to argue with Anna about this fact and so I moved on with our conversation to the second important part.

"As you maybe have already wondered, the wound on your neck is gone and since you're smart girl you probably know how this could've happened…"

Anna nodded. "Vampire blood." She answered me and I wasn't surprised at all that she stated this as a fact as if I would've asked her where she had been actually bitten.

"That's correct…" I confirmed what she had just told me and decided to let her do the work or investigating as some would call it.

"So Anna, you seem to know quite a bit about vampires. What does vampire blood exactly do to humans?" After asking this question I observed her attentively and waited for what she had to say.

ANNAS POV

I hadn't really wondered about the bite until Eric had brought my attention to it. My whole body did hurt, every single limb, so I hadn't been thinking about this certain spot and if it did hurt too.

It was obvious that I had been healed with vampire blood…very possible his and now he asked me about the effects. I was just too eager to name said ones, after all I was a walking vampire dictionary, right?

"Okay, so vampire blood consumed by humans will heighten their senses, as well as increase their strength, provide an intense sexual experience and also cause certain hallucinations. A larger dose can also heal wounds, like it already did, make the vampire bond with the human who drank the certain amount of blood, increase their libido and make the human dream about the vampire."

Eric nodded. "And now for once think about what you have actually said instead of just playing a walking dictionary…" He shortly smirked at me before getting serious again and I went over all the certain effects again, but this time silently.

Okay, heighten their senses that's not bad, that's actually good, could be fun.

Increase their…my strength? Hmm, maybe it's time for some remodeling at home, since I maybe am able to move some furniture around by myself.

An intense sexual experience? Tracy would probably be up for that within a second, but doesn't affect my life at all.

Hallucinations? Hmm, that could be bad, but hey, I'm pretty good at figuring out when I'm dreaming, so I think I can handle this as well.

A larger does can heal wounds…that has already happened.

Make the vampire bond with the human?!

Increase their libido?!

And make the human dream about the vampire?!

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

I was jumping off my seat way too fast, moving around pretty irritated, with a shocked expression on my face, ignoring the pain, before I turned around to Eric and now spoke out loud what I was thinking.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Eric!" I shouted at him and I couldn't stop to think that he was watching me with a bit of amusement.

"Smart girl…" he just said, before adding "I actually had expected to you to say these words under some different circumstances, but well…" as I sighed and sat down on the sofa again.

Staring at him I didn't think about it for long and just asked "What are we going to do about it?"

"Nothing?" he responded with a raised eyebrow because he knew very well that I was the walking dictionary and that I also was very well aware of the fact that we, or actually neither of us, could do anything about it.

ERICS POV

Even though the situation was dead serious I couldn't stop my slight amusement about said situation, as well as Anna's reaction. Eyeing her closely I tried to figure out what she was thinking. She was probably letting all of this sink in.

"So how are you feeling?" I asked her and she startled a bit before looking up at me with a confused expression.

"Better…" she replied and I shook my head. "That's good to hear, but I was actually talking about our situation."

She shrugged. "I guess I…we have to live with it right?" she asked and I confirmed her thoughts.

"Yes we indeed have to, but I actually wanted to know what you're thinking about it?"

She seemed deep in thoughts and after about five minutes her face finally moved again.

"I have no idea. I mean that's a lot to take in and it doesn't ever go away, right? Especially that amount?"

I just nodded, because she almost knew these things better than some of my kind and even though I was still impressed by it, I didn't want to change the subject right now. This conversation was way too serious and important for our future, whatever one it would be.

ANNAS POV

What was he expecting from me? On my drive here I wanted to keep his attention and now I had it, even more of it than I actually maybe wanted. I knew way too well what vampire blood could do to a human and in my case we weren't talking about a few drops we were talking about a big amount of it.

Suddenly the scene from Dallas where Eric had tricked Sookie into drinking his blood popped up in my head and everything that had happened after that even though she had just a few drops in her body, while I was like a walking bottle of Eric Northmans blood now.

The pounding in my head was always interrupting my thoughts and I growled a bit in pain.

Eric had been watching me the whole time, without a bit of impatience and looking at him I just sighed. "I think I have to just sleep and then think about it tomorrow. I'll get used to it." He had saved my life twice and so I just wanted to assure him that everything was going to be fine.

Slowly getting up from the sofa I mumbled "I should probably get home now…I'm really tired and everything still hurts."

He nodded. "Yes, you probably should go home and rest."

Within seconds he had grabbed my arm and was walking with me towards the back entry of the bar.

My feet were just following him, like they were programmed to do so and as soon we stepped outside the bar and I was inhaling the cool night air my headache wore a bit off and I started to think a lot more clearly. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all, right?

A small smile crossed my face and of course I wasn't able to hide anything from a always attentive vampire. He gave me his 'What?' look and I simply replied to his unanswered question "I was just thinking, that I'm pretty sure, that I'll get used to it."

He seemed a bit surprised and raised an eye brow. "Well if that's so Miss Pryce…" he started and within seconds I found myself pressed against the cold and stony wall of the bar. "Then I'm going to give you even more to wrap your pretty little mind around…"

My heart had started to beat almost out of my chest and his voice so close at my ear made me shiver again, before I risked a look into Erics deep blue orbs, that were so close and completely consuming me.

Without even realizing it he had started to kiss me and damn was he a good kisser. I didn't know much about it, but I finally got a grasp why people liked to do this.

I slowly started to engage into the kiss and sooner than later we weren't kissing anymore, this was like a full make-out session and he was almost pressing me with his whole weight against the wall, while his hands seemed to be everywhere and I started to do the same.

When he ended the kiss I was completely out of breath and just staring, not knowing what to say, think, or do, maybe in that moment I didn't even know what my name was and if Eric hadn't steadied me I would've probably just blacked out again.

Still out of breath and watching him I mumbled a "Wow…", saw a smile creep up on Eric's face and was shaking my head.

"Now you're ego is even bigger than before, huh?" I asked rhetorically as I was about to stand on my own two feet again and his only respond was "Until next time Miss Pryce" before he walked into the bar again and I was left alone with all my thoughts and the cool night air, that was able to clear my head for a second time tonight.

I should probably really get home and think about all of this in the morning, if I wouldn't have to already worry about certain side effects.

**Liked it? Please review. I'm really happy about any review, follow and favorite I get.**

**Next time: The strange things that can happen after a blood exchange and some more exciting stuff.**


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